AU: Legacy of The Turtle Hermit
by DragonMasterFlex
Summary: After the sealing of the Kyuubi, the Sandaime entrusts Naruto to his old friend Master Roshi, the turtle hermit. Now after 15 years he returns to the village to begin his ninja career. NaruXAnkoXKureXTem NaruXHarem
1. A Change in Destiny

**_A/N:_** Naruto will be a bit OOC in this story, in that he will not be an idiot. Also, the graduation age for a genin is 15 instead of 12.

**Summary:** After the sealing of the Kyuubi, Naruto is entrusted to Master Roshi to succeed him as the next master of Kame-sennin martial arts. After 15 years of learning under and being raised by the legendary martial artist, he returns to the hidden leaf village to start his shinobi career.

_**A/N (2/10/2011):**_ This story won my little poll, so I'm going back and revising the old chapters before I post the new one. Some of this was from when I first started writing on this site, so it _really_ sucked. Grammar, spelling, a lot of stuff just awful! I have certainly come along way since then.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, DBZ or any other elements used in this story

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**A Change in Destiny  
**

_X-X-X-X-15 years ago-X-X-X-X-X_

The recently reinstated Sandaime sat in his office wondering what to do about his current predicament. His successor had sacrificed his life in order to stop the attack of the Kyuubi by sealing the beast into his newborn son. The boy's mother, the previous container for the beast, had died while aiding her husband in the sealing ceremony, leaving the infant an orphan. The elders were pressuring him to mold the boy into a weapon to protect the village as other villages had done with their own demon-containers. He would not stand for the molding of a child into a weapon, especially this one. "If Tsunade was still around I could entrust him to her, Jiraiya despite being the godfather is in no position with his activities to take care of him. I may have to pass him off to a trusted caretaker for the time being..." he thought to himself. The door to his office suddenly slammed open jarring him from his thoughts.

"Ha-ha! Hey, there Sarutobi! How's it shakin you old monkey!" yelled a bald old man sporting a beard even longer than his own.

"Roshi? I thought you never got off the island anymore? Besides, if I do remember it correctly, you out date me by several decades," retorted the Sandaime. "But on to more important matters, why are you here?"

Master Roshi adjusted his glasses and adopted a more serious tone, "The boy, the son of Minato, you will entrust him to me for the time being. I will raise him and train him, he is the one to be my true successor."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at this declaration, "Why would this child be able to complete the training, that not even his genius of a father could finish?"

A wide grin spread across the turtle hermit's face, "With nine-tailed fox inside of him that boy has more power potential than anyone I have ever attempted to train. With the chaotic nature of the beast's chakra it will be difficult for him to manipulate and control the power as normal chakra, but if he were to master my arts and techniques, wielding such power would be child's play. Besides it would be good for him to grown up away from the village in this time of mourning. The people need to be able to move on from this tragedy and they won't be able to do so with a constant reminder around. Before he was even born, my sister proclaimed him to be the legacy child. And in my advanced age I need to pass on my arts before I kick the bucket!"

The Hokage sighed, "Fine, you have me convinced. I'll have an Anbu squad bring him to you in a weeks time so you can prepare."

"I just knew that you'd see things my way. Now, you wouldn't happen to know where I'd be able to get my hands on a copy of Jiriaya's latest work?"

"That's the real reason, you originally decided to make a trip out here, isn't it." deadpanned the Hokage.

The grin on the elder man's face said it all.

Sarutobi shook his head as he reached into his drawer and pulled out an orange book before tossing it to him.

"Hehe! Now for quick visit to the hot-springs before I head out..." exclaimed Master Roshi as he exited through the door.

_X-X-X-X-Present Day-X-X-X-X  
_

A blond teen stood crouched on the sand shores of a small island as he progressed through his morning exercises and katas.

After completing his workout, young Naruto turned to the skies and yelled, "NIMBUS!"

A yellow cloud streaked out of the sky and circled around to float next to the young man. The teen stood at 5'11 sporting a dark blue martial arts gi with orange trim and black boots. The back of his shirt displayed to the symbol of turtle hermit. A red staff was strapped to his back and one his arm is a tattoo of a turtle shell, the other a toad. He leaped onto on the cloud and turned around to face the house on the middle of the Island.

"Hey Grandpa Roshi! I'm taking off now! Be sure to come and visit sometime! I'll buy you one of Ero-sennin's new books!" exclaimed Naruto.

Roshi stuck his head out the window and replied, "You got yourself a deal kid! Send that old koot of a hokage my regards! See yah round Naruto!"

"Okay, later gramps!" replied Naruto before zooming off on the nimbus cloud.

"Man, I'm gonna miss that kid..well maybe.. now where was I, oh yes work it girls! One! Two! Three! And One! Two! Three! Heh-hey!" exclaimed Roshi as he went back to watching the workout program on the TV.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hours later at the gates of Konoha, Izumo and Kotetsu were kicking back on gate duty watching the new paint on the walls dry.

"This is so boring man! We need some entertainment," groaned Izumo.

"Yeah, when was the last time that Naruto kid visited? He always livened up this place." replied Kotetsu.

"Remember when he paint bombed the market district neon green? That was classic!" exclaimed Izumo.

"Or how about that time he stink bombed the academy!" chuckled Kotetsu. "

"If he ever comes back here for good, the village will never be the same..." said Izumo only to be interrupted by a loud boom as a yellow cloud streaked overhead with a familiar blond teen riding on it.

"HEY KONOHA! GUESS WHOSE BACK FOR GOOD! MWAHAHAHAHA!" yelled Naruto as he soared over the gates. "Yosh! Nimbus onward to the old geezer!"

The cloud kicked into another gear and sped off towards the Hokage tower.

"If five naked hot-chicks decided now would be a good time to hang out outside the gate, the village would never be the same..." blurted Izumo. They both looked around for several seconds, but when nothing happened Izumo banged his head on the table, "Dammit!"

Kotetsu shrugged, "Hey, it was worth a shot in the dark."

"I think he's just what the doctor ordered for this place," commented Izumo.

"Yep, things are definitely looking up now!" said Kotetsu nodding in agreement.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As Naruto darted across the skies above the village, he and the nimbus performed some barrel rolls and other tricks to the amusement of the people walking along ground who began to clap and cheer and his antics. Unknown to him he caught the attention of two particular Kunoichi eating at a dango stand.

"Is it me Nai-chan or did a blond hunk of man meat just fly into our village on a yellow cloud?" asked a drooling Anko.

"He looked like a younger looking Yondaime-sama..." muttered Kurenai with equal amounts of drool.

"Well as the two hottest kunoichi in village, we must claim this blond Adonis for ourselves! An opportunity like this only strikes once!" declared Anko.

"I agree!" exclaimed Kurenai, stunning Anko because Kurenai is usually the sane one who puts a stop to her man capturing schemes. Quickly Anko composes herself to take advantage the situation.

"Well then we must prepare to capture our prey. Let's head to my office down and T&I to find whatever information we can on this guy." said Anko before grabbing Kurenai and vanishing via shunshin.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The Sandaime sat peacefully in his office, taking a moment to enjoy his favorite orange book. Suddenly there was a burst of wind in his office, sending all the papers on his desk flying. He didn't even look up from his book before speaking, "Ah, Naruto I've been expecting you. Grab the paper and forehead protector on the edge of my desk and report to the academy. You'll be assigned to your new team and meet your sensei today."

"I'm back in the village for my first day on the job and you won't even look up from your porn to greet me. That cuts me deep old man, real deep." deadpanned Naruto.

"Yes, yes, I am glad to have you back my boy, now move along. You're already running late. I'll treat you to dinner later." replied the Hokage still not looking up from his book.

"Free Food! You still rock gramps!" exclaimed Naruto as he grabbed the items off the desk. He tied the forehead protector around his right bicep before exiting out the window towards the academy. As soon as Naruto was out the window the Hokage looked up from his book toward the picture of his successor with a proud smile on his face.

"Good to have your son back eh, Minato? The will of fire is stronger than ever within him. You should be proud." commented the veteran village leader.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

At the academy, Iruka was currently announcing the teams for the newly graduated genins, "Now listen up people. These are your genin squads, Team 1...(skipping ahead avoiding all useless people), Team 7 under Kakashi Hatake is Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Namikaze, Team 8.."

"Excuse me Iruka-Sensei?" interrupted Sakura. "But who is our third teammate? There has never been a Naruto Namikaze in the academy. You must have made a mistake."

"There are no mistakes Sakura. Your teammate has been privately trained away from the village by his guardian, who happens to be a friend of the Hokage and several other high ranking village officials. The Hokage along with the council have certified and promoted him to the genin ranks."

"Oh..Okay then. Sorry." meekly replied Sakura.

_'I don't care if where he comes from, as long as he's not dead weight. Got enough of that already...'_ thought a brooding Sasuke.

"Now continuing on Team 8 Aburame Shino...(A/N: The squads are the same the originals). These are your squads. Your Jonin senseis will be along to pick you up shortly. Good luck to you all." stated Iruka.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Two hours later, the other teams and Iruka had already left. Sakura and Sasuke were still sitting waiting on their other teammate and sensei. The two new genin's frustrations nearly boiled over as a masked silver-haired man walked through the door dressed in standard Jonin attire. The lazy looking man had his forehead protector slanted to cover his left eye.

"Team 7?" asked the man.

After they nodded he continued only to be cut off by Sakura shortly after, "I am your jonin instructor-"

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN! YOU'RE OVER TWO HOURS LATE!" screamed Sakura.

He gave the two of them a bored look, "If you two had any sense of awareness you'd recognize that your teammate and I have been waiting for you on the roof for over an hour. To the roof now please." After he disappeared in a puff of smoke, the two disgruntled genins marched up the stairs to the roof where they found their sensei and teammate sitting across from one another reading a similar pair of orange books. They took seats across from their superior, next to their teammate.

"Now, that everyone is _finally _here we can begin with introductions. You know names, likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, ninja skills, etc." stated Kakashi.

"Uh, can you go first Sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Very, well my name is Kakashi Hatake, I have a lot of likes, some dislikes, my dreams for the future aren't really relevant, and I have a lot of hobbies and skills," he replied with a eye smile.

"You didn't tell us anything except for your name!" yelled Sakura incredulously.

Naruto shook his head, "Let me translate that for you: my name is Kakashi Hatake, I like Icha Icha Paradise books, I dislike people who don't let me read my Icha Icha, my hobbies are annoying people by reading Icha Icha in public, and my dream is for there to be an Icha Icha Paradise movie."

"Ma-Ma, Naruto you're ruining my mysterious persona," chided Kakashi.

"You wear a mask, you don't need the whole vague speech thing," deadpanned Naruto.

"Do you two know each other already?" asked Sakura.

"No, we just happened to be neighbors at a Holiday Inn Express last night." deadpanned Naruto.

"No need to be an ass to your new comrades Naruto." scolded Kakashi. "Now, how about you Pinky."

"My name is Sakura Haruno my likes are...(looks at Sasuke then blushes and giggles), my dislikes are lazy perverted bakas! (glares at Kakashi and Naruto) And I hate Ino-pig! My hobbies are reading and medicine, and my dreams are..(looks at Sasuke and giggles and blushes again)."

_'Great a fan girl,'_ thought the other three as they sweat-dropped.

"What about skills?" asked Kakashi.

"Um, I know the basic academy jutsu and a few simple medical ones." replied Sakura.

Kakashi nodded at Sasuke, "Alright, duck-butt head, you're up."

Sasuke showed no reaction to the jibe, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha my likes are too few to name, I have many dislikes, my hobbies are training, and my dream... no my ambition is to kill a certain man and restore my clan. My skills include the basic academy jutsu, my clans taijustu style, and some fire jutsu."

_'Great an avenger, he may be talented be he needs to move beyond that mindset.'_ thought Kakashi.

"And last and certainly least, the devil's chief minion." declared Kakashi.

Naruto snorted, "I'm Naruto Namikaze the pupil of the great Master Roshi. Yeah, I just said I've learned under Master Roshi. Big whoop! Wanna fight about it? My skills are deeply entrenched in the turtle hermit style, however, I have incorporated some ninjutsu that fit with my style to keep myself well rounded. My likes are food and fighting tough opponents, my dislikes are people who annoy me or piss me off. My dream is to become the world's best martial artist."

_'The most well adjusted one, and he's probably just as insane as his mother.'_ thought Kakashi.

"Very, well. That's it for introductions. Now that we all know each other we will meet tomorrow morning for a survival training exercise."

"Survival training, we completed that in the academy!" shouted Sakura.

"Well, this is far more severe than that, consider this a test if you will," replied Kakashi.

"You mean our real, genin test Kakashi-Sensei?" asked Naruto.

"But we just passed that in the academy!" exclaimed Sakura.

"That was merely a certification exam, showing that you mastered the academy teachings. You're real test will begin tomorrow at 8 am. It has a 66% failure rate. So meet me a training ground 7 tomorrow morning at 8 and I recommend not eating beforehand. You might throw up. " with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The dark haired and pink haired genin looked to third teammate, only to find him leaping away across the rooftops already.

"Sasuke-kun you wanna..." started Sakura.

"No. Go away do something productive like get ready for tomorrow." snapped Sasuke.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

(A/N: Skipping the exam part, with a competent Naruto they pass easily. Many useless filler D-rank missions, building camaraderie in their unified hatred of D-rank missions.)

_Three weeks later_

Team 7 currently stood in front of the Hokage after completing, yet another monotonous D-rank mission.

"Well, let's see what other missions we have for you today, babysitting, walking the inuzuka dogs, lost cat..." however a shout interrupted him.

"No fucking way!" yelled Naruto, using his extending power pole to knock all the D-rank missions out of the Hokage hands and into the air in front of a large open window.

"Katon Goukakyuu No Jutsu!" yelled Sasuke as he launched a condensed version of the fireball, incinerating the D-rank missions to ashes before flying out the window. Sasuke looked away while whistling innocently as Naruto spoke up, "Sorry Hokage-sama, but it looks you're all out of D-rank missions and since we've completed the minimum requirements for a C-rank mission you cannot possibly deny us one after that brilliant display of teamwork."

"How dare you two, attempt to bully your way..." yelled Iruka before the Hokage raised his hand silencing him. He puffed on his pipe before speaking.

"I've seen many demands for higher ranked missions in my years, but none as creative as that one! " declared the Hokage with a smile. "Besides I've been waiting for you to speak up. I have C-ranked escort mission, that should suffice in your opinion Kakashi?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama." replied the masked man, not entrenched in his book for once.

"Then bring in the client." ordered the Hokage.

In stepped an old man wearing a white brimmed hat and drinking sake.

"This is the bridge builder Tazuna, you will escorting him back to his home in Wave country." informed the Hokage.

"Yes, I am the super awesome bridge builder Tazuna. You will have the privilege of escorting me home." declared Tazuna.

"More like the super drunk bridge builder, man you reek!" retorted Naruto while holding his nose.

"Naruto, don't insult the Client. Now pack for a two week long mission and meet up at the gates in two hours." ordered Kakashi.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After gathering the needed supplies the team met at the gate with the client at the appointed time and departed the village. While walking Sakura pestered both Kakashi and Tazuna with questions about Wave Country and why the mission is necessary. Naruto strategically interrupted at times with questions that are actually relative to the mission. Sasuke listens for important information, but remains silent as they walk along. After some time the group passed by a puddle in the middle of the road. Behind them two men in metallic masks and gauntlets with a chain emerged from the puddle. They both wore mist forehead protectors with a scrath across the front signifying they were missing nin. The two proceeded to encircle Kakashi in their chains before ripping him to shreds.

"ONE DOWN, AND THREE TO GO BEFORE THE OLD MAN!" they yelled before proceeding to encircle Naruto in the chains as well.

Sakura froze at the site of their sensei being destroyed, while Sasuke jumped into action by throwing a kunai at the chains, but he was too late as they reached Naruto first.

"LOOK OUT!" shrieked Sakura.

The chains proceeded to take out Naruto, however, to everyone's surprise they passed through him as if he was never there.

"Shit, it's an illusion technique! Where's the other guy!" yelled Gozu.

"Right up here!" yelled Naruto has he came down from up above. He swung his extending power pole at the gut of Gozu, knocking him backwards and forcing him to collide with his brother. He then swung down over their heads knocking them both out cold. Sasuke threw two kunai through the chains of the assailants which pins them to a tree. Kakashi then decided to make himself known by jumping down from trees above while clapping.

"Nice job you two. Those are chunin caliber opponents, the C-ranked Demon Brothers." he announced.

"Kakashi-Sensei! Thank goodness you're alright!" exclaimed Sakura.

"He used substitution and hid to figure out their target." commented Naruto.

"It was completely obvious." stated Sasuke.

"Do you think that little of your Sensei?" asked Kakashi.

Sakura blushed, embarassed at panicking too much.

"Now, since our client paid for a C-ranked mission, which is protection from bandits, I want to know why there are ninja after him." stated Kakashi with an evil gleem in his eye as he turned to face Tazuna.

Tazuna started sweating bullets before deciding to spill his guts to the group about the situation in Wave Country. He attempted to manipulate them with a sad story about his grandson, but they didn't take the bait.

"We'll since you lied, we are well within rights to leave you here and cancel the mission." announced Kakashi.

"But what about the people of Wave Country, my daughter and my grandson. So cold hearted as to deny a poor boy his grandfather?" pleaded Tazuna.

"While we are well within our rights to decline the mission, we won't." stated Naruto.

"You won't?" inquired a hopeful Tazuna.

Sasuke let out an indignant snort, "What he's is trying to say, that this mission guarantees a fights against a strong opponent and he can't back down from a good challenge. And neither can I."

"And as lazy as Kakashi-sensei appears to be at times, he has his own pride too." added Naruto.

"Well if you all think we should go, then who am I to stop us." said Sakura.

Kakashi adopted his patented eye-smile, "Well, since my genin are all in agreement we should proceed. I'll send a request for backup once we reach Wave Country, since this mission rank is being upgraded."

Tazuna bowed to the shinobi before him, "Thank you so much for your kindness."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "You shouldn't thank us old man, you just got lucky. We're not doing this for you, just for the promised good fight. Between me, the mute, and even our lazy sensei we couldn't possibly retreat from a challenge. Our honor demands it. Any other squad possessing an ounce of sanity, would have dumped you here, sob story or not."

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_(2/10/2011): Chapter 1 Revision_

This chapter has been cleaned up a lot. And do I mean a lot, so now onto the next one. Wooo-Whooo!


	2. Wave it ByeBye

**Revised-2/10/11**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

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**Wave it Bye-Bye**

The trip since the encounter with the Demon Brothers had been relatively quiet. The group was able to cross the water passage where the bridge was being constructed safely in their boat. With no other interruptions since the demon brothers, they were now close to Tazuna's house. It was quite the uneventful journey. That is, until a giant sword tried to decapitate them and the Demon of the Hidden Mist showed up. Suddenly, everything was all business.

"Copy-Nin Kakashi of the Sharigan, no wonder the demon brothers failed. Hand over the old man and I won't kill you and your team." declared Zabuza as he leaked a massive amount of killing intent.

"Did you happen to lose some eyebrows near fire country? I think I know who happened to pick them up!" cheerily replied Naruto.

Apparently Naruto didn't get the all business memo.

"Well, I'll spare everyone except him," retorted an agitated Zabuza.

"Hey, don't take it out on me because you have to overcompensate with a sword! I hear the Akimichi clan has come up with some jutsu for that kind of thing!" announced Naruto. By now the rest of the group was snickering or in Tazuna's case out right laughing, ruining Zabuza's aura of death in the process.

_'The old arrogant loudmouth routine, actually for Naruto that's just business as usual.'_ thought an amused Kakashi.

"I see, I've got a stand up comedian on my hands. Let's see you mouth off, when I chop off your head!" roared Zabuza as he jumped backwards, landing on top of the lake. The dark haired mist then executed a short set of hand signs.

**"Kirigakure No Jutsu!"** announced the ex-mist shinobi.**  
**

The thick mist rose from the water, covering the area and limiting visibility. _"Eight points,"_ voiced Zabuza through the mist, his tone laced with bloodlust. _"Larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular, subclavian artery, kidneys, heart now... which will I strike?"_

"Eyebrows!" yelled Naruto as he quickly phased in front of Zabuza and sent a jarring hay-maker that knocked the original Zabuza back onto the water and dispelled several water clones he had hidden in the mist.

"This mist may work on your usual opponents, but I can sense your energy. You can run, but you can't hide!" sneered Naruto as the mist began to dissipate.

"You may be able to stop my silent killing technique, but your just some loud mouthed punk. I'll still crush you!" snarled Zabuza, as he returned to his feet.

"I call bullshit." muttered Naruto as he removed his power pole from his back and gave look to Kakashi. "I can take this guy right?"

Kakashi nodded and began passing signals to his other two charges as the two weapon wielding shinobi squared off.

After a brief stare down, they charged forward and entered a dance of weaponry. Zabuza's powerful strikes and overbearing weapon, were countered by the skill and technique of Naruto with the power pole.

_'He's truly adapt at wielding the staff. Adding the power pole's advantages on top of that, it's almost not even fair.'_ observed Kakashi.

After being evenly matched for several strikes, Zabuza suddenly appeared to break through Naruto's guard. The demon of the mist attempted to split the blond in half lengthwise with an overhead strike, only for his attack pass through an afterimage. Naruto appears behind him with a strike aimed for his head, only for Zabuza to pivot and block with his sword at the last second.

_'His moves are pretty fast for a guy wielding such a big blade. Let's see how he does when I speed this up!'_ thought Naruto.

Naruto suddenly kicked into a higher gear and multiple afterimages appeared around the battlefield. Zabuza started becoming more inaccurate with his strikes due to his frustration. After several misses by Zabuza, Naruto exploited an opening. The blond smashed down on his wrist with his pole, separating the swordsman from his zanbato. The leaf shinobi followed with a Ki enhanced kick to the chest that sent Zabuza flying across the body of water into a tree. The missing nin coughed up blood from the heavy damage.

_'Shit, I recognize that technique! He made me underestimate him with his taunts. An After-Image that well defined can only be taught by one martial arts master. The rumors were true about a successor! Haku you better hurry up, we need to re-plan. Fuck, that kick may have broken a few ribs.' _thought Zabuza.

Suddenly Kakashi appeared in front of him in a swirl of leaves, armed with a kunai and ready to end him.

"You've had a good run Zabuza, but your ambition ends here." stated Kakashi as he moved to slash his throat, however, three senbon needles beat him to the punch.

"Thank you for defeating Zabuza. You have made my job much easier." stated a hunter-nin as he emerged from the trees.

Kakashi moved over to check the body finding no pulse.

"You're awfully, opportunistic. I did all of the fighting, this is my bounty." declared a miffed Naruto.

"Technically he made the kill, so you have no claim Naruto, sorry. Don't worry you'll be compensated for you aid in taking Zabuza via the mission by the village." said Kakashi.

"Whatever." grunted Naruto.

"I must dispose of this body, so I'll be on my way." said the hunter-nin as he moved over to the body before performing a shunshin and vanishing with the corpse.

"There's something off about that hunter-nin." stated Sasuke while staring at Naruto who was now casually playing with a stone in his hand.

Kakashi felt something about it bugging him too, "You may be right, but first we need to worry about getting back to Tazuna's house."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Back at their hideout, the hunter-nin moved to pull out the senbon needles after addressing the rest of Zabuza's wounds. Zabuza came back to consciousness gasping for air.

"Did you have to be so rough Haku?" grunted the mist demon.

"If you had not underestimated that boy, you would not be in this state Zabuza-sama." countered Haku.

Zabuza frowned, "True, I can't believe I didn't recognize that punk. Next time we meet you will take him out. He may be fast, but he is no match for your bloodline."

"As you wish. Also, I'm sorry but I couldn't find your blade." reported Haku.

Zabuza's eyes narrowed, "That brat must have taken it after he disarmed me! No matter, I can revert to my old sword style. That's what got me into the Seven Swordsmen in the first place. I'll take my zanbato back from that punk's dead hands. Haku, I need you to find me a third Katana of high quality." commanded Zabuza.

"Right away Zabuza-sama." replied Haku.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The group reached Tazuna's house an hour later and were introduced to his daughter Tsunami. They secured the perimeter before resting up from their journey. The next day the team regrouped for a meeting outside of Tazuna's house.

"I don't think that man who killed Zabuza was a hunter-nin." stated Sasuke.

"Sasuke, how did you deduce that the hunter-nin was fake?" inquired Kakashi.

"What do you mean a fake?" asked Sakura.

"He didn't destroy the body before hand as per proper protocol. Those senbon needles were use to create a false death state." informed Kakashi.

"Well, there's that and he blew his cover when he forgot the sword," said Sasuke as he pointed at Naruto now holding giant blade. "He turned it into a stone when the guy showed up, and the guy didn't stay to search more for it. The blade has got to as important as the body."

Naruto snickered, "Hey it's fair trade. He got the bounty, I got the sword."

"Well, they will definitely be back when Zabuza's wounds are healed to retrieve his sword. I'd give him about a week at least, which means we have a week to train as well." surmised Kakashi.

"Well you guys can figure out what your going to do, I'm going to get started and meet you at the bridge later." stated Naruto before walking off.

"Wait, what about your training?" asked Sakura, but Naruto didn't eve look back as he disappeared into the distance be calling out. " I've got something new to work on. The bridge isn't a good place for it."

"Sakura, if you would have paid attention you'd have noticed that when ever we train he's doing different exercises." deadpanned Sasuke.

The kunoichi let out an embarrassed chuckle, "My bad."

Kakashi quickly moved onto other matters, "Now, since we'll be at the bridge you two can continue perfecting the water walking exercises. Sasuke you will work on taijutsu with your sharingan active. Sakura you will do laps to continuing build up your reserves and practice the genjustu I taught you."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After a solid day of training the team returned to Tazuna's house for dinner. It was a nice peaceful meal until Tsunami's son, Inari, started ranting about how they were all going to die and that Gato was unbeatable.

"So, the way you make it sound, this Gato guy must be incredible. I'd love to fight him! So is he really big?" inquired Naruto.

"No, he's a short guy." replied a confused Inari.

"Well size isn't always an indicator of strength. He must be ripped from intense training then!" continued Naruto.

"No, he's a bit on the portly side." supplied Tazuna.

Sasuke catching where this is going added, " Well he could be master of jutsu and techniques."

"No, that's not it at all. He has a huge army! Tons of guys! He's unbeatable!" proclaimed Inari.

"Man Gato sucks kid, you lied." replied Sasuke.

"If you got him in a one on one fight even Sakura could beat him." deadpanned Naruto.

"Hey!" yelled Sakura in defense.

"Don't make light of our suffering! He's taken everything from us!" bitched Inari.

"Everything? Your mother is here cooking you nice warm meals and your Grandpa's building a bridge to put him out of business once in for all." countered Naruto

"No one is making light of your suffering, it's just that you're not being realistic about the situation." interjected Kakashi.

"Gato's nothing but a bully, one good shot and he'll go down. Your Grandpa's got the right idea. He's fighting back trying to hit the bastard where it will hurt the most. Right in his wallet." stated Naruto before he stood up and walked towards the door, leaving behind a puzzled Inari.

"Where you headed?" asked Kakashi.

"That thing I was working on, it's not done yet." he replied before exiting.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The week of training and preparation passed by quickly and at this point Kakashi was wishing they had more time. During the week Naruto kept showing up late from working on whatever technique he was developing in secret. The satisfied look on his face when he stumbled in the previous night indicated he had finally completed it, so that morning Kakashi decided to let him rest and fully recover as a reward. If he had known today was going to be Zabuza's counter-strike, he would have brought him a long. He knew he could defeat Zabuza himself, but he was unsure of Sasuke's chances fighting Zaubuza's accomplice, who Zabuza claimed was as strong or even slightly stronger than himself. Sasuke himself while talented and possessing the sharingan, simply wasn't on that level. Naruto on the underhand was just below his own level and had enough experience from his time under Master Roshi's care that he could handle himself, even against a stronger opponent. Now he could only hope that Naruto would show up in time to bail out his other student before he got in too far over his head. Kakashi pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as he refocused on the battle and moved through Zabuza's thick mist. The loss of his Zanbato didn't slow the swordsman down one bit. His skill with the strange three katana technique he now wielded, appeared to surpass his skill with the zanbato. Zabuza using the mist to counter Kakashi's sharingan worked to some degree, but Kakashi's sense of smell was as good as Zabuza's hearing. This made the blind fight essentially even. With the battle deadlocked Kakashi decided to try to make himself an opening. He threw a kunai in a random direction giving away his position.

"I've got you now Hatake!" echoed Zabuza's voice from within the mist. "**Santoryuu: Tatsu Maki!**"

A twister erupted through the mist nailing Kakashi dead on and sending him into a pillar on the bridge. When the smoke cleared the damaged body of Kakashi collapsed into a pile of water. Zabuza heard the sound of sparking electricity and looked up to see Kakashi plummeting down from above at him with blue electrical chakra in his palm.

**"Raikiri!" **roared the silver haired shinobi.**  
**

Kakashi surged forward with his attack attempting to pierce Zabuza through the heart. Zabuza twisted his head bringing the blade in his mouth around into the path of the attack. The blade only held momentarily, but it allowed Zabuza to get his body out of the path of the attack and create some separation between himself and Kakashi. Kakashi then let his jutsu die out.

"Impressive attack, if it wasn't for my third blade it would have killed me for sure. You won't get that chance again." declared Zabuza.

"True, but now with only two blades, you can't fight at your full potential." countered Kakashi.

"Yes, but the last jutsu cost you a large amount of chakra. You won't last much longer fighting at your peak." responded Zabuza.

"We'll see about that!" declared Kakashi as he charged in with a kunai in each hand to begin the fight anew.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

As Naruto arrived on the bridge, he surveyed the battle scene. Kakashi was within the thickest part of the mist battling toe-to-toe with Zabuza. Sakura was with Tazuna, it looks like she was using a genjutsu to disguise their exact location. Then there was the big mirror like dome where he could here fighting occurring inside.

_'Sasuke must be inside there. I could pull him out but then I'd be inside. Hmm... but if those truly are mirrors, then I could use that technique!'_ thought Naruto.

Naruto jumped down to the side of the dome and placed the power pole on the ground then then stepped on the edge of it. The sound of him extending the power pole across the top of the bridge caught the attention of everyone on the battlefield.

_'When did he get here?'_ thought Zabuza.

_'With Naruto's help, Sasuke-kun is saved for sure.' _thought Sakura._  
_

"What are you planning Naruto..." mumbled a puzzled Kakashi._  
_

The pole extended directly in between one of the gaps in the bottom of the dome before reaching the center. Sasuke thinking Naruto was going to use the power pole to pull him out grabbed onto the end only to disappear in a puff of smoke and be replaced with Naruto.

_'Very clever he couldn't see inside so he used the pole to switch with the space at the end of it.'_ observed Zaubuza.

"That guy's pretty good Kakashi, but he's still no match for Haku. In some ways Haku is even stronger than me!" stated Zabuza.

"You'd do well not to underestimate Naruto again." commented Kakashi as their fight resumed.

"You fool! All you did was trap yourself inside!" exclaimed Sasuke.

"Don't worry I have a way out. Besides you used a lot of chakra in here so rest up. I've got a feeling this two are the least of our problems!" Naruto yelled back.

_'Don't get killed in there Uzumaki.'_ thought Sasuke as retreated back to where Sakura and Tazuna were so she could patch up his wounds.

"I don't know what he was thinking throwing himslef into danger like that! If you couldn't beat him Sasuke-kun then what make him think he can do it by himself. I mean.." rambled Sakura as she healed him.

"Shut up." growled an irritated Sasuke. "Styles makes fights and Naruto is a different type of fighter than I am. If he has a plan you should have faith him."

Tazuna breathed a sigh of relief as this finally shut her up._  
_

_'If he fails, it will be up to me to defeat him out from the outside.'_ thought Sasuke.

_'I let him allow the other to escape. No matter it will be in vain.'_ thought Haku.

"A worthy sacrifice to take the place of your comrade in my death trap. However, that escape method will only work once." declared Haku.

Haku then brought out more senbon needles and began to throw them at Naruto. Naruto went on the defensive twirling the power pole to deflect the attacks. After Haku stopped launching needles momentarily Naruto jumped into action creating several after images in front of the mirrors. When he moved to strike what he thought was the real Haku, he was hit in the side with several senbon and thrown to the ground.

_'He is truly fast, but between these mirrors I'm still faster.'_ thought Haku.

"Your speed is impressive, but it is still no match for my technique." stated Haku.

"I figured that," replied Naruto as he removed the needles form his body. "I just needed to test your technique before implemented my real plan, taking advantage of your one critical flaw."

"Oh and what's that?" inquired Haku.

"A dome full of ice mirrors," started Naruto as he put his hands in a triangle in front of face, " is still a dome full of mirrors! SOLAR FLARE!"

The bright flash reflected off of all the mirrors blinding Haku.

"My eyes!" screamed the androgynous nin.

Down below Naruto opened his eyes after the reflection died down. He looked to see that with his concentration broken only one Haku remained in the mirrors. He launched forward a threw a Ki enhanced punch that knocked Haku out of the mirror and sent him flying across the bridge as the rest of the mirrors shattered.

_'He did it!'_ thought Sasuke and Sakura.

_'Dammit, Haku!'_ worriedly thought Zabuza.

_'Now what will you do Zabuza...'_ Kakashi thoughts were interrupted by a clapping sound on the other side of the bridge. Zabuza let his mist dissipate to reveal Gato and his army of thugs.

"Nice job! Now I don't have to pay these guys. I can kill the baby demon and his brat as soon as I'm done with you!" roared Gato with laughter.

"What about our deal!" exclaimed Zabuza.

"Nothing personal, it's just good business!" cackled Gato.

"Well, it looks like we aren't on opposite sides anymore Kakashi." stated Zabuza as he repositioned himself next to the copy-nin.

"They aren't skilled, but they have numbers and we have wasted a lot of chakra already." stated Kakashi surveying the army.

Naruto had placed the knocked out Haku back with Sakura and Tazuna. He and Sasuke walked forward to stand next Zabuza and Kakashi.

"Take out the head and the rest will fall easy." declared Sasuke.

"Yeah but how, you have to go through all of them to get to him." replied Zabuza. Naruto then stepped forward.

"Stand back, I'll do it in one shot," he said while removing a stone from his pouch which transformed into Kubikiri Hocho.

"You'll be returning that after is this all over brat," threatened Zabuza.

"We'll see," smirked Naruto as he raised his hand in the air palm up with the blade resting on it flat. The blade levitated before spinning horizontally. As it began to pick up speed a yellow disk of energy formed in the path of the spinning blade creating the sound of a buzz saw.

"That's Unreal!" yelled a stunned Zabuza.

_'So that's what he was working on. The rotations of the blade are so fast my sharingan can barely keep up!'_ thought Kakashi.

"Nice light show but it wont scare us away. Attack!" ordered Gato.

"**DESTRUCTO DISK: GUILLOTINE STYLE!**" yelled Naruto.

Launching the attack forward it cut right through the charging men in the central portion of the army and made a beeline right for Gato. He could only stare in horror before his head was taken off and blade took an upturn and shot of into the distance.

"I think, I could have used more rotation..." muttered Naruto. The others stared at him in disbelief. Suddenly Zabuza snapped at out his awe realizing his sword was gone.

"You better know how to track my blade down brat!" yelled Zabuza.

"Calm down. You were better fighting with the katana's anyway. They're more versatile. I'll replace your broken one...although three blades still makes it look like you're overcompensating," replied Naruto, muttering the last part to himself.

"We have bigger problems then Zabuza's blade. You may have taken down Gato, but most of his army still remains and they're not running." pointed out Kakashi.

True to his words, the thugs had regrouped and looked ready to cause trouble.

"You killed our meal ticket, so will kill you and take this town instead!" called out the group of mercs.

Out of nowhere a arrow was shot that landed in front of the thugs. The group truned back to see Inari and the rest of the villagers armed to the teeth with whatever they could find.

"You want our town, you'll have to go through us!" the villagers roared.

"Not a problem!" the army of thugs been to charge forward only to be stopped in their tracks by and incredible killing intent. Everyone look to see Naruto engulfed in a white aura powering up some attack. When he began to speak his voice had distinct edge to it.

_"KA...ME...HA...ME...You have until the count of three to leave this town before I blast you all in oblivion! ONE..." _declared Naruto as his energy output began to shake the bridge.

"I think he's lost it!" yelled Sasuke as struggled to hold his ground.

"Retreat back towards the villagers! If he fires that from here we'll get caught in the backlash at this range!" yelled Kakashi.

Back next to the villagers, Tazuna was kneeling and praying, "Kami, I promise to never drink again if you let my bridge survive!"

Zabuza just stabbed his blade into ground and stood there with a smirk on his face.

"No way, he'll do it! He's bluffing!" declared one thug. At this the size of the energy ball in Naruto's hands tripled in size.

_"TWO..."_

"HE'S NOT BLUFFING LET'S GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" roared the thugs as the scrambled away, some even jumping of the bridge to swim away in retreat.

At the sight of the thugs retreating, Naruto let his attack dissipate and powered down. The villagers stared at him stunned while Kakashi congratulated his student on an excellent tactical maneuver.

"Nice bluff Naruto, you even had me convinced with that Kamehameha." said Kakakshi.

At this Zabuza roared in laughter, clapping the blond on the back, "He wasn't bluffing if they didn't retreat he would have fired! Not bad kid, didn't know a tree huger like you had it in you."

Naruto looked back at them with a serious stare before adopting a smirk and shaking his head.

Meanwhile Sasuke was standing off to the side frustrated, _'Going in I thought we were on the same level, but the gap between our abilities is far greater than I could have ever imagined. He's almost like him in terms of skill at that age. I've got to find a way to close the gap in skill level. Even with the sharingan he would pound me into the ground right now. If I can't be the elite of my own age how can ever hope to compare to him...'_

"What are we going to due about you and your minion?" questioned Naruto giving a nod towards Haku.

"Well we could let them go, they've done no real harm here and weren't really our enemies. It's not really our responsibility to take them in either." stated Kakashi trying to take the lazy way out.

"That kind of shorts them a bit. They're really good fighters, I don't think we have a swordsman in the village on Zabuza's level, and the fools in the council are always looking for new bloodlines to pump up the village to clients." suggested Naruto.

"Whoa, just hold it right there. How could you possibly get us into the your village. I'm a high ranked missing-nin and he's my accomplice." explained Zabuza.

"Well, your value as a fighter is top notch like I said before and any information you provide could be useful. Ever since the third Mizukage took over our spy network has been really shitty there." replied Naruto.

"Plus your companion isn't registered as a missing nin so he could slid in easy." added Kakashi.

"I have a in with the Hokage so worst case scenario, he does some magic with the paperwork you have to take a new identity." finished Naruto.

"Alright we're in." affirmed Zabuza.

"I'll send out a messenger bird to the Hokage." said Kakashi.

* * *

_Attacks/Justu_

**Santoryuu: Tatsu Maki - Three Blade Style: Dragon Twister  
**

**Raikiri - Lightning Cutter  
**

**Kirigakure No Jutsu! - Hidden Mist Jutsu  
**

Man this chapter was such a hassle. I rewrote it so many times before skipping ahead and doing future stuff for this story. With the future laid out I came back to what a I really needed to accomplish in Wave which was the survival of Zabuza and Haku and Zabuza's new sword style**.**

**Revised-2/10/11**


	3. The Great Dango Adventure

**Revised-02/10/11**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own squat, if I did Pein, Kisame, Sasori, Deidara and Itachi would still be alive and Sasuke and Madara would be dead.

* * *

**The Great Dango Adventure  
**

The building of the bridge went smoothly with Gato out of the picture. After another week and a half, team 7 departed the newly christened "Kame Bridge" with Zabuza and Haku in toe. The team plus the pair of the missing ninja were all currently in the Hokage's office completing the mission report and debriefing.

"So you destroyed the Gato syndicate, rebuilt the economy of wave, got a new trading treaty for Konoha, and added two ninjas to our ranks. I miss anything?" casually stated the Sandaime.

"Well, you looked like you could use the extra paperwork when we left." commented Naruto.

The Hokage simply shook his head before chuckling, "I expect nothing less from one of your adventures Naruto."

"So what happens now?" asked Zabuza.

"You two will be placed on probation with ANBU surveillance for 6 months before being re-evaluated for full enrollment into our ranks." stated Kakashi.

"Which means?" replied Zabuza.

"You'll be stuck on guard duty for 6 months before getting any real missions so they can observe you and prove your loyalty to the village." replied Kakashi.

"Better than nothing I guess." said Zabuza.

"Kakashi escort them to headquarters send them to Captain Saru. The rest of you are dismissed, Team 7 will be credited and paid for an A-rank mission." ordered the Hokage.

"Hai, Hokage-sama!" they all saluted before departing.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day the various Jonin and Chunin had gathered in the secret meeting hall with the Hokage for the upcoming Chunin Exam Nominations.

"Now the floor is open for the nominations." announced the Hokage.

"I nominate the most youthful of teams, Team Gai for the Chunin exams." proclaimed Gai.

"I nominate team 10 for the Chunin exams." declared Asuma.

"I nominate team 8 for the Chunin exams." declared Kurenai.

"I nominate Team 7 for the Chunin exams." added Kakashi.

"What this can't be! Some of those students are just fresh from the academy. They couldn't possibly be ready!" yelled Iruka.

"These ninja are no longer green academy students, but soldiers under our command. They have what it takes. I'm fairly certain that one of my students could even pass the Jonin certification right now." replied Kakashi calmly.

"So, the Uchiha prodigy is really that talented." blurted one Jonin.

"No, didn't you hear? He's got the Turtle Hermit's kid on his squad too. The guy went toe to toe with Momochi Zabuza on their last mission. Even recruited him to the village!" replied an ANBU standing next him.

"Your concerns are dually noted Iruka, but as you can see the Jonin instructors have the utmost confidence in their students, as should you." stated the Hokage.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." replied Iruka.

The rest of the Jonin proceeded to deliver their nominations before the Hokage went into other details about the exams. Off to the side Anko got bored and began pestering Kurenai.

"I told you, you should have traded the Hyuuga and the mutt for the hunk and the fan girl." whispered Anko.

"I like my team the way it is. Besides if we had him you'd harass us all day and we'd never get anything done." retorted Kurenai.

"At least we'd have staked our claim already! With all the foreigners showing up for the exams that just means more competition. This is serious business! I mean, just take a look at the pathetic fools you have to chose from in this village." Kurenai glanced around and saw Asuma smoking a cigarette, Kakashi reading his porn and Gai, well being Gai, causing a shiver to run down her spine.

"Okay, don't worry I have plan." said Kurenai with a determined look on her face.

_'This must be good! Usually I'm the one who comes up with the plans.'_ thought an evilly grinning Anko.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

After the meeting ended the two kunoichi made their way over to the other side of the room. Per usual, Gai was ranted on and on about something while Asuma and Kakashi ignored him to enjoy their cigarettes and porn respectively.

"I assume you guys haven't told your teams about the exams yet. We should have a big group get together to announce their entrance. It will be nice for them to know some familiar faces taking the exams with them. They can ask us questions to get different perspectives on how to prepare." suggested Kurenai.

No one noticed Anko's evil grin widen at this statement.

"What a most youthful idea! My veteran team can be the guiding light of youth for all of your rookie squads!" exclaimed Gai.

"Eh, sounds like a good idea." said Asuma.

"I don't know," said Kakashi while he pondered it more. _'Most of my team isn't really the social type...Sasuke would only see them as enemies to scout and Naruto is the type of guy that can make an adventure out of just having a meal.'_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X_  
_

Currently in the forest outside Konoha, said blond person sneezed as he chased after the tiger that had stolen his lunch while he was training.

"I waited all day for that damn ramen, get back here!" yelled Naruto.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Common Kakashi, it'll be a good chance to show off your prized student. Kami knows how much you bragged about the kid before he even joined the ranks." added Asuma.

"Yes, and perhaps my most youthful student can find his own eternal rival in your prized pupil!" declared Gai.

"Alright, let's do it." replied Kakashi. He inwardly thought, _'Note to self keep Naruto away from Gai and his mini-me.'_

Asuma set the meeting spot before they all departed, "We can meet up tomorrow after lunch at training ground 14."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day a hungry Naruto marched into a busy dango stand in the afternoon. After having his lunch stolen by wild animals while training in the woods the past few days, he decided to eat lunch in the village to avoid the hassle with the animals.

_'One of those was Akimichi barbecue too, who knows the next time I'll be able to score some from their compound before its all gone!'_ thought a hungry Naruto.

He walked straight up to the counter to place his order, "I'll have a triple special please."

"Sorry, but we're out right now, that lady got the last of it," replied the waiter pointing at a purple haired woman in the corner. "You'll have to wait an hour and half for some more."

"I don't have that much time! Why are you out so fast?" demanded Naruto.

"We're catering an Akimichi function today." deadpanned the waiter before walking away from the counter to clean some tables.

_'Damn what to do...hmm that lady has a lot maybe I'll swipe some and leave some cash what harm could it be.' _thought Naruto.

Nartuo went into super-speed, grabbing a bag and shoveling in a bunch of dango, before slipping some money into the lady's pocket and taking off in the blink of an eye. The woman noticed the blond speeding off, but didn't pay much attention to him until she reached down for her next stick of Dango only to find one stick remaining._  
_

"What the hell!" she stood up with a sadistic gleam in here eye, "Stealing my dango? Oh boy, that's gonna cost you!"

She ate the last stick in one bite before speeding off after her prey, snakes slithering out the sleeves of her trench coat, "Come on boys! It's lunch time!"

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Naruto came to a halt when reached the edge of training ground 14. Since he was early for his meeting he hopped into a tree and began to eat his newly acquired lunch.

"Ah, this village really does make good dango." he said to himself aloud, savoring every bite. "Hmmm."

Suddenly he was forced to tilt his head to the left to avoid a kunai flying through the air that embedded into the trunk of the tree behind him. His eyes widened as he turned back to find the purple haired woman he'd pilfered the dango from.

"No one, I mean no one steals my dango!" she screamed at him, barely holding herself back from frothing at the mouth.

Naruto who was still in mid bite barely had any time to react before she launched a volley of kunai at him. Naruto began to contort his body into almost impossible angles to dodge each and every blade.

"Stay still and take your punishment like a man!" she yelled before reappearing right behind him with kunai to the throat and snakes ready to sink her fangs him. She went to slice his cheek only to find she was holding an after image. She looked up to see him standing at the top of the trees above her. He flung a fresh stick of dango at her which landed right in her mouth sideways.

She took bite before saying, "Nice throw! But it won't save you!"

Naruto who finally had a chance to swallow responded, "Hey! I paid for it! I even left some extra just for the trouble! Just check your left inside coat pocket!"

At this another voice interrupted them, "Anko please stop trying to kill my student." Kakashi and the others had finally arrived at the scene for the meeting.

Anko completely ignored him now counting the money she found in her pocket. "Oh he paid double!" she uttered. She reappeared right behind Naruto again this time hugging him from behind and finishing off the dango Naruto had just been eating.

"Loves dango and he's loaded, can I keep this one!" she yelled.

"Anko stop molesting the genin!" demanded Kurenai.

"Don't be jealous! I'll share him with you for a small fee." suggested Anko.

"Hardly," she replied but on the inside she was furious. _'It was my plan! I should get to make the first move!'_

The rest of the group merely observed them confusedly, while one pale eyed boy recognized Naruto and began to tremble in anger._  
_

"It's you! The one who brought great shame to the Hyuuga clan!" he yelled before shifting into a stance, "I will exact our retribution!"

A grin formed on Naruto's face in response, "You guys still pissed off about that underwear incident? Blame it on the idiot old fart who decided that I should be grateful that a commoner like me could deliver goods to such a noble clan. Nothing really noble about a clan who still wears those tightie-whities and what-not. Although I did make sure to wear gloves. Based on those stains you guys had, I'm pretty you use those eyes of yours for more that just that fancy taijustu of yours."

"Neji! How most un-youthful of you and your clan!" exclaimed Lee in shock, pointing an accusing finger at his teammate.

"My troubled student, there are plenty of much more noble ways to experience the springtime of youth! Let Lee and I show you the proper way to experience youthfulness!" added Gai.

At this statement nearly everyone in the clearing busted up in laughter or snickered. Neji turned red in anger and embarrassment while Hinata merely fainted.

_'This humiliation will not be forgotten!'_ Neji raged internally while struggled to maintain the proper Hyuuga decorum on the outside and pretend he was totally unaffected.

After everyone settled down from their laughter Asuma kicked the real aspect of the meeting, "We've nominated all of you for the upcoming Chunin exams. It's up to each of you individually if you want to enter." He them passed around a briefing to each team.

"Here are the entrance forms if you want to take the exam. You need to show up on the exam day with these to gain admission." informed Kurenai as she passed around the entrance forms.

"Sweet! Looks like we'll be advancing in rank in no time!" exclaimed Kiba.

"It should be noted that the nearly all applicants fail on passing their first chunin exams. Only the elite of the elite make it on their first go round." advised Kakashi.

'Well, there better be some more of the elite of the elite at this exam or I'll get bored." deadpanned Naruto.

"What makes you think you're such hot stuff!" hotly retorted Ino.

Naruto snorted, "Please. Get on my level. There's not even a comparison to you and me, with how far I'm above you. Only the Jonin here could beat me, and for the ones that could it would be close. Master Roshi doesn't exactly train weaklings like the Academy does. I mean just look at the gap in skill between the first year students and the rest of you rookies. It's not even close except for Sasuke."

Gai and Lee began to boast about how youthful Naruto to was to acknowledge the supreme flames of youth Team Gai possessed. Suddenly another voice permeated the air.

"Oi, brat! Spar, now!" They all looked up to see Zabuza standing on a tree at the edge of the clearing.

"Hell yeah! Get ready for another ass-beating dattebayo!" Naruto snatched an exam paper from Kurenai before tossing his dango bag to Anko. "You can keep the rest!" he yelled as he sprinted after Zabuza out of the clearing.

"Excitement, comedy, and Dango! All in all an excellent first date!" said Anko. Everyone stared at her like she was out of her mind.

"Like you losers could ever understand." she pouted before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Troublesome. We have to deal with an opponent who can keep up with one of the seven swordsman. This is going to be a pain." muttered Shikamaru as the meeting continued.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The next day as Naruto strolled through the village, he noticed an abundance foreign civilians and shinobi.

_'Look at all these damn people. I guess exam time really does bump up the business with all these tourists. I haven't seen this many people since I helped out ero-sennin with his book signing back in Suna. That reminds me with the exams coming up there is a good chance that he could be here as well. Now where to find him...'_

A few minutes later Naruto walked around a corner to witness the sight of a young kid being held up by two Suna ninjas with two other children standing in off to the side of them, pleading for them to let their friend go.

"Time to teach a little punk like you some manners." smirked the male Suna nin holding the child.

"Konohamaru didn't mean it honest!" pleaded one of the other children.

"Just let it go Kankurou.." said the blond girl standing next to him.

"No way, I've been itching for some fun." gleefully replied Kankurou.

"Should have listened to the lady. You must be pretty pathetic if playing with makeup and beating up little kids is your idea of fun." stated Naruto as he walked forward.

"Who asked you?" said Kankurou as he looked at Naruto, _'Probably just some muscled bound thug. All brawn no brains.'_

Suddenly Naruto swiped his hand forward and the kid was now in his grasp. He placed the kid on the ground.

"Tha..that kid! How did you get him!" stammered Kankurou. Naruto was no longer paying attention to him.

"You alright kid?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah that was totally awesome! How did you do that? Can you teach me! You should..." rambled Konohamaru as his friends stared at him in awe.

"Woah! Slow down kid. I was just teaching makeup boy there a lesson. It appears he doesn't even recognize me." replied a smirking Naruto.

Suddenly Temari and Kankuruo paled.

"You..You're that crazy kid, who hung around Gaara! You made him even scarier than before!" exclaimed Kankurou.

Suddenly a raspy voice permeated the air, "Made who even scarier than before?"

"Just the man I was looking for!" chuckled Naruto while rubbing his palms together.

"Kankurou, you're pathetic! And Temari, I thought I told you to keep him out of trouble." snarled Gaara as he appeared in a swirl of sand.

"So-Sorry Gaara." muttered Kankuruo.

"Whatever, just get back to the hotel before I change my mind." commanded Gaara.

The two walked away with Temari sending curious glances at Naruto, _'You did something that changed Gaara...for better or worse remains to be seen.'_

"Hey aren't you brats supposed to be in the academy right now?" remarked Naruto.

Konohamaru paled before grabbing his two friends and taking off, "Thanks boss!"

"Boss?" questioned Naruto while scratching his head, "Eh, whatever. Nice job losing your siblings Gaara, let's go somewhere more private to chat."

Naruto turned and waved towards a tree before disappearing with Gaara. Sasuke emerged from said tree after they left.

_'Just what are you up to Naruto...'_ thought Sasuke before he left the scene.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The two had moved to the top of the Hokage monument before sitting down.

"From here, no one is close enough to listen in good." said Naruto. "So how goes your operation in Suna?"

A smirk formed on Gaara's face as he responded, "Excellent, no one has been able to trace it back to me. Here, I have some photos of my latest works."

As Naruto looked through photos he couldn't contain himself and burst out in laughter.

"Oh man these are classic! Paint bombing ANBU Headquarters, clogging the toilets in the Kazekage's office with sand, and spreading his underwear all over the village. I knew I was right in making you my apprentice! You'll never be caught because you scare everyone away with that Insane- Shukaku gag! This is genius!" exclaimed Naruto as he roared with laughter.

Gaara coughed to regain his attention. Naruto turned to see Gaara holding his out expectantly. A light bulb went off in his head as he reached into his pouch to retrieve a popular orange book to hand to Gaara.

"Oh don't worry, I didn't forget about you. The latest from ero-sennin himself, got it via toad this morning. That reminds me I have to deliver the old-man and Kakashi the latest copies." said Naruto.

Gaara held the book reverently for a moment before putting it away. Naruto then addressed his friend a with a tone that meant all business.

"Now you said there was a serious problem with the Kazekage in your last message what is it?" asked Naruto.

"My father is being impersonated, which means he has been assassinated or kidnapped." answered Gaara.

"Are you positive about this? I mean how could no one else not have noticed?" questioned Naruto.

Gaara elaborated, "The impersonator copied his mannerisms to the finest detail, even his scent is still the same. The only difference is his energy signature. It is radically different from before and you told me that nothing can change your energy signature because your life force is a part of it. It's almost like..."

"...someone is wearing his skin." finished Naruto. "We need to see the Hokage your entire village may be compromised."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk analyzing the recent detailed reports from Jiraiya's intelligence network. The reports indicated that something was happening, but he didn't have the slightest clue what. It seemed as if he was missing a key piece of information.

_'First the new hidden sound village starts ramping up as if their going to war before simply shutting down, then the hidden sand village immediately begins to do the same thing. Could they be possibly going to war with one another? These patterns makes no sense. And we've still yet to find that intelligence leak...' _his musings were interrupted by a knock on the door.

As Naruto and Gaara walked into his office the Hokage turned his thoughts away from the reports on his desk and to the two young men in front of him, giving them a warm smile, "Ah, Naruto I did not know you were acquainted with the youngest son of the Kazekage. Now what seems to be the problem?"

"Actually you did know we were acquainted. Gaara's our guy inside the Kazekage's office and we've got trouble." replied Naruto.

Gaara then told the Sandaime everything he told Naruto causing the old man to gasp in shock and his pipe to fall out of his mouth.

"It couldn't be that fool..." uttered Sarutobi.

"So, why did the snake take over the sand village?" inquired Naruto.

"He's not trying to takeover Suna," said the Hokage, now with a determined look in his eye. "He's just stealing their forces. What you two have just revealed to me is S-class information not to revealed to anyone unless I deem it so. I need you both to keep your eyes peeled during the exams for anything else that may help us and report it back to me. We have a leak and I'm going to start cutting his flow of information."

"Yes, sir." They both responded.

"What are we going to do about my village?" asked Gaara.

"Nothing can be done now. If we try to do something before he exposes himself, your village may suffer more damage than just losing a Kazekage. We must wait for the right time to act." declared Sarutobi.

_'He may have done us a favor in that regard. Father was such a terrible leader and father as well...'_ thought Gaara.

"You were just thinking he did you a favor by killing your old man weren't you?" deadpanned Naruto. Gaara did not dignify him with a response causing Sarutobi to chuckle.

"Have a nice evening boys." he said dismissing them.

As they turned to leave Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out a scroll and tossed it to the Sandaime.

"For your paperwork breaks." he said before the two exited the office.

Sarutobi opened the scroll and when he retrieved the familiar orange book within he gained a fierce look of determination.

"I will survive this war if only to see what happens to Hikaru and Mikoto in the sequel!" he declared. Somewhere a white-haired man sneezed from behind a bathhouse wall.

* * *

**Next time the Chunin exams!**

**Revised-02/10/11  
**


	4. Chunin Exams Round I

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Chunin Exams Round I**

Naruto confidently strode towards the academy building barely containing his excitement for the upcoming exams. He opted for a dark blue version of his fighting gi with a back undershirt and power pole strapped to his back. As he approached the doors he made out the figures of Sasuke and Sakura waiting for him.

"Let's do this!" stated Naruto as the two joined him in stride entering the building.

"This outta be good." replied Sasuke.

"Let's all do our best!" added Sakura.

As the entered to the room they saw a small crowd of Genin and Chunin idly chatting on the first floor. The trio quickly made their way up the stairs, not even giving any attention to the weak genjustu on the second floor that had caught a group of Genin within its graps and made their way to the third floor. As they approached room 301 they found their sensei standing of to the side lazily reading his orange book.

"You really need to find yourself a girlfriend sensei." commented Sakura while shaking her head.

"There's no help for him, he's gone to far down the path of an ero-sensei. No woman will touch him now." added Naruto.

"And here I come to congratulate my precious students on getting into the exam, and this is the appreciation I get." said Kakashi as he sighed.

"What do you mean congratulate on getting in?" replied Sakura with a raised eyebrow.

"You all had to show up here to take the exams otherwise, I couldn't have let you in but that really doesn't matter now. Good luck with the exams!" he stated before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

"Okay?" Naruto scratched his head with a puzzled expression, "Let's just move on."

Sasuke opened the door to room 301 and they all entered. All the noise in the room vanished has all eyes turned on Team 7. Killing intent spiked at the group, but the trio eased right in as if they didn't feel it. Suddenly a green blur entered their vision.

"Ah the lovely Sakura, I'm sure you remember me the green beast Rock Lee, would you please go out with me!" pleaded Lee.

"His response is based on how much you were paying attention, so act like you didn't hear him." whispered Naruto in her ear.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" responded Sakura.

"Oh no! The hip attitude of my Sensei's rival has passed down to the lovely Sakura-chan! I must restore her youthfulness, if I can't do that..." rambled Lee.

The group sidestepped the rambling green beast and moved to where the rest of the rookies were congregating. Sakura began to mingle with the group while Sasuke and Naruto moved off to the side, Sasuke scoping out the competition and Naruto staring straight ahead with an intense look of concentration. After few minutes of mindless chatter a few of them took notice of the two backbone members of team 7.

"Just look at that guy. Son of the Yondaime must be all business! He's hardcore just like Sasuke! Just look at the focus that guy has, I wonder what's going on in his head?" pondered Kiba aloud.

"Troublesome probably plotting what flashy techniques he'll have to display to gain his promotion." replied Shikamaru.

The real thoughts inside Naruto's head,_ 'I can't believe I've been back in the village for this long and I haven't had any Ichiraku ramen! What should I have for my next meal shrimp? miso? pork? No I must have them all! 5 bowels of each? 10...'_

"Kind of intimidating, when you look at him, it's like the rest of us barely even show up on his radar._" _commented Choji._  
_

Kiba snorted in response. "Yeah, well he won't get past us no matter what he knows right Akamaru!" he exclaimed.

_'You're on your own! This guy is way out of our league!'_ yipped Akamaru in response.

"What? He's not so tough I'll show you boy! Oi Namikaze!" yelled Kiba as he marched over to the blond, "I don't care if you're some hot shot with special training we won't lose to someone like you!"

Naruto looked him in eye before smirking, "I'm sorry I don't speak bitch. Could one of you translate for me?"

"What hell is that supposed to mean!" roared Kiba as he started forward only to be held back by Shino.

"Please excuse my teammate, he's easily excitable." stated Shino trying to diffuse the situation.

"I think it's perfectly clear what he meant dog breath! Like you could back up a statement like that!" roared Ino with laughter as by now the others had tuned into the conversation.

"Oh, so you are fluent in bitch too! Can you tell me what he said?" deadpanned Naruto.

"Why you...Let me go Shikamaru! I don't care who he is! No one talks to me like that!" screamed Ino.

"Troublesome, calm down Ino. You left yourself open for that one." replied Shikamaru holding her in place.

"You know you guys are pretty loud. Maybe you rookies should settle down." a voice interrupted. They all turned to face a glasses wearing silver haired ninja who looked slightly older than them.

"Why should we listen to you?" replied Sasuke who now directed his attention to the new ninja.

"It's just that you're agitating some of the veterans, you're making yourselves targets. Don't want my fellow leaf shinobi to get ganged up on." he answered.

The group looked around the room to various elder ninjas giving them glares.

"Thanks for the heads up..." said Naruto.

"Kabuto, Yakushi Kabuto." filled the now identified Kabuto.

"Aren't you a bit old for these exams?" asked Sasuke.

"I'm something of a veteran. This is my seventh time." answered Kabuto.

"SEVENTH?!!" exclaimed the group.

_'There's no way he should have failed seven times, not with his chakra levels.' _thought Naruto._  
_

"Man you must suck!" said Kiba.

"No he could just be unlucky. These exams are supposed to be pretty tough." countered Shikamaru.

"Yeah they are. You guys take every advantage you can get. Take a look at these." said Kabuto

"Blank Cards?" said a puzzled Sakura.

"They're ninja info cards, when I insert my chakra into it the data appears. I've got data on pretty much everybody. I'll show you, give me a person to look up." said Kabuto.

"Gaara of Suna." supplied Sasuke.

"Namikaze Naruto." added Shikamaru.

"You know his name? Too easy, let's see here Sabaku no Gara, Genin of Suna, teammates are his siblings Sabaku no Kankurou and Sabaku no Temari, 10 C-ranked , 2 B-ranked, 1 A-ranked missions, has mastery over sand, no other skills known. He's returned from every mission completely unscathed. Pretty Impressive." supplied Kabuto.

_'Good he knows nothing of Gaara's true skills, which means the only data he has on me is from my missions. Still that is too much information to be floating around for someone I don't trust.' _thought Naruto.

As Kabuto pulled out his next card Naruto quickly snatched it away before replacing it with another one from his deck and crumpling his own card into his fist. He then destroyed the card in his hand with a pulse of ki.

"This doesn't' seem to be right?" puzzled Kabuto has he pulled up the info.

"Seems you've misplace my information, too bad." responded Naruto.

"How in the world did you come across info like this?" asked Shikamaru.

_'So you picked up on it too...'_ thought Naruto.

"I'm an aspiring medical ninja and my father is the head of the hospital. Gives me access to tons of data on the competition. The downside is time spent learning various medical techniques has hampered me in other areas. Hopefully I've even my skills out enough to pass this time." answered Kabuto.

"There's nothing wrong with saving lives instead of taking them. Perhaps your skills may save some of our lives someday." stated Naruto.

The other Genin peppered him with more questions while Naruto eased himself away from them. He made a couple of discrete signals to Gaara passing along a message.

_'Your showing up to great us was far to conveniant. Who are you Yakushi Kabuto? Is that even your real name?'_ thought Naruto.

--

The doors slammed open and a group of Chunin followed by a guy in black trench coat entered the classroom where the Genin where scattered about. The guy in the trench coat marched up to the front front of the room and slammed his fist down on the table in front of him gaining everyone's attention.

"Alright maggots quiet down! I'm your first proctor Morino Ibiki! You have four minutes to get to your seats or you fail!" roared the proctor.

The Genin scrambled about the room using the provided chart to find their assigned seats. After three minutes everyone was seated. Naruto found himself in the middle of the back row of desks in between a pair of older Leaf ninjas. He noticed that Sakura was seated in the row in front of him a few seats to the right of his position. Sasuke was near the front of the room to his left side. After the Chunins passed out the exam papers, Ibiki began to explain to rules for the examination.

"The rules to this test are easy, you have ten questions to answer within the hour. There is no cheating allowed. If you are caught cheating we will dock two points from your finally score for each time you are caught. You lose one point for each wrong answer. If you end up with zero points your whole team fails. Last question will be given by me with 15 minutes remaining. Begin now!"

Naruto scanned through his test paper looking at the various questions. He frowned as he realized he didn't have a clue how to answer a single question on the paper.

_'Master Roshi taught me the basics schoolwork wise, but there is no way I could answer any of this crap. I need help but how...as long as I don't get caught I could cheat? Even so you only lose 2 points..ah clever the test is how well you can cheat! But I need a diversion to do that what can I use? Ah, the window. Let's see if I can make it...'_

Naruto focused his energy and attempted to use the multiform technique, but make his copy appear outside the room. After a quick pulse of power to give his copy energy he found that he succeeded. Ibiki felt a pulse of power and looked up to see a white glow fade away from the blond guy in the back row.

_'Yes! It worked!'_ thought Naruto.

_'Namikaze, what are you up to, I know that wasn't just nothing.'_ his thoughts we're interrupted by crash from the outside that broke some of the glass of the window. Everyone in the room turned to stare at the window only to be blinded by a bright flash of light from the outside.

"AHHH!" was the collective yell of everyone as they covered their eyes. Seeing that he was now the only person with vision Naruto looked around a saw an examinee who had already completed his paper. He quickly swapped tests with the guy placing his name on the sheet ful of answers. After a few minutes everyone's sight returned and Ibiki looked up to see Naruto with an ear splitting grin on his face.

_'I know that look, kid used to have it when he escaped from a pulling a prank back in the day. He did it, but I don't know how. Not bad, not bad at all...'_

"Number 75 fail! 76 and 77 you're out too!" shouted one of the proctors.

"What I didn't do anything!" protested the Genin to no avail as he and his team were escorted outside. Naruto assumed the guy whose test he swipped was a chunin planted in the exam since the guy didn't make a fuss when he went back to his paper. He now observed his teammates seeing Sasuke using his sharigan to copy someone's movements to get answers. He looked at Sakura and saw her able to answer the questions on her own.

_'That girl needs a life...'_ he thought.

"Numbers 63, 64, 65 you're outta here!" ordered another proctor.

Naruto observed Gaara using his sand eye to spy for answers and use his sand to relay the answers to his siblings.

_'Bet they just think he's doing that so they won't impede his progress, fools...'_ thought Naruto.

"Numbers 21, 22, 23 you're done!" declared an examiner.

As the forty-five minutes passed several more teams we're ejected from the exams. Naruto doodled on his paper as we waited for the tenth question to be given.

"Alright, listen up! It's time for the tenth question!" yelled Ibiki gaining their attention again, "You should know there is a special condition for the tenth question. You have the choice whether to take it or not. If you choose not to, you and your team will simply be disqualified and you can leave now."

"Why wouldn't we want to take the question?" asked one of the Genin.

"Quiet! I wasn't done, you see the penalty for taking the tenth question and answering incorrectly is to be permanently banned from taking the Chunin Exams ever again!" stated Ibiki.

"That's not fair!" roared one of the Genin.

"Yeah, there are plenty of people in here who have taken the exams before!" added Temari.

"Not my problem. My exam, my rules." stated Ibiki offhandedly, "Now what is your choice?"

Immediately a hand shot up. "Sorry, guys I just can't risk it." said the leaf genin as he and his teammates were escorted from the room. Soon several others teams followed thinning the numbers of the remaining teams.

_'I know I could answer it and Sasuke could too...'_ she thought as she turned to Naruto as saw him staring out the window daydreaming,_ 'Just great he hasn't even been paying attention.'_

_--_

The various Jonins had gathered in the lounge in the academy waiting on the results from the first examination. Kakashi was reading his book as usual will Asuma, Gai and Kurenai were discussing their squads chances in the exam.

"So what do you guys think?" asked Asuma.

"My youthful team has been fully prepared! Nothing will stop them!" proclaimed Gai.

"Youthfulness or not, that won't matter in front of Ibiki." retorted Asuma.

"Ibiki? Anko's boss is the first proctor?" questioned Kurenai.

"Yeah that guy really knows how to push people's buttons. Mentally he'll push you into a corner until you crack." replied Asuma.

"I'm not worried." commented Kakashi.

"All that martial arts bravado of Naruto means nothing in that classroom." stated Asuma

"It's not that, Naruto is a unique individual. If he doesn't either like or understand what you're saying he'll tune you out completely. " responded Kakashi.

"That's not being unique that's just being stupid." replied Asuma with a snort.

"Actually in our profession where no one tells the complete truth, it is a wise policy. 90% of what a ninja says is crap anyway, we're only 10% better than politicians." remarked Kakashi.

_--  
_

Sakura wasn't the only one who noticed Naruto goofing off. "Hey, you there in the back! Do you really think this is the time to be daydreaming?" yelled Ibiki directing everyone's attention to Naruto.

Naruto stuck his pinky finger in ear as if clearing it out before he said, "I'm sorry did you need something to wipe your mouth clean from all that bullshit you were just spewing?"

Everyone stared at him with a look that said, _'Did you really just say that?'_

"You think this is a joke? Your career is at stake here!" responded Ibiki before smirking, "Maybe the pressure has gotten to you, you should give up."

"You know you should see a doctor about that. Crap is supposed to come out of the other end." replied Naruto casually. The rest of the Genin snickered at his response alleviating some of the tension in the room.

_'Just great the asshole ruined the atmosphere I created.'_ thought Ibiki.

After this no one else decided to quit prompting Ibiki to reveal the tenth question.

"Alright the tenth question is...." he paused for dramatic effect before continuing, "You all pass!"

Most of the room gasped in shock, while Naruto and Gaara stared at him with bored looks that said _'Really? Is that the best you can do?'_

The demon container duo tuned him out as he explained the purpose of his exam to the rest of the remaining participants, the importance of intelligence gathering and the difficult decisions they will face as Chunin. His speech was interrupted by a red ball of cloth smashing through through window, followed by four kunai sticking to each corner, creating a banner that proclaimed:

'_The way to sexy for any of you, Mitarashi Anko, proctor of the second exam_'

This was followed by a smaller second banner that read: _'Except Naruto of course!'_

As the woman entered Naruto experienced the feeling being incredibly amused and aroused at the same time.

_'That was awesome!'_ he thought.

"What the hell Ibiki, your test sucked you left way too many! Must be getting soft!" commented Anko as she analyzed the room.

"You're early, and my test was fine, we just have some cream of the crop entrants this year." he retorted.

"Whatever, by the time I'm done I'll cut these losers to less than half!" she declared with an evil grin that creeped out most of the Genin in the room.

"Alright thumb-suckers, the next part of the exam begins tomorrow morning at Training ground 44 aka the forest of death! Be there at nine or fail!" she ordered as the Genin proceeded to exit the room. As they exited Naruto gave Gaara a signal to meet up at the Hokage tower.

--

Gaara and Naruto arrived at the Hokage's office to find Ibiki just about to exit the room.

"Ah, it's you two nice job today." commented Ibiki.

"Yes, how did the exam go boys?" asked the Sandaime.

"It was fine. The proctor told us to report here additional exam instructions." Ibiki raised an eyebrow at this recognizing the code phrase as the Hokage went through several hand signs that erected a sound barrier and a Genjustu masking the sound barrier to make appear as if the were discussing trivial information. Ibiki knew the Hokage was using a couple genin to be his eyes and ears inside the exams, he didn't expect it to be actual genin he figured he plant some higher ups.

"You're clear, go ahead and report." stated Sarutobi.

"Yakushi Kabuto is a person of interest." reported Naruto, "He has detailed information on the mission records and skills of nearly every Genin in the exam. A nobody who failed the exams seven times shouldn't have that kind of information even if he is a medical ninja whose father runs the hospital."

"He also reeks of snakes as did several other Genin in the room. Most notably those from hidden sound and his teammates." added Gaara.

"They must all be in regular contact with him somehow. He's already here, but why now?" said Ibiki.

"He's after something, whether it be an asset he left behind years ago or something new I can't speculate. We will monitor this Yakushi Kabuto hoping he leads us to some bigger fish in the chain then. The low levels spies must report to whoever his right hand man is. The same would go for the sound genin, but they would have no more need for meetings their orders have already been given. We can only do that outside the exam, so you too continue to monitor him on the inside. Ibiki dig into his background for possible associates that fit the profile, and prep a room for him. If after the second exam nothing turns up, we'll bring him in. " ordered the Hokage.

* * *

**_The Action picks up next time in the Forest of Death!_**


	5. Chunin Exams Round II: Forest of Death

And the beat goes on...

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything

* * *

**Chunin Exams Round II: Forest of Death  
**

All the examinees gathered early in the morning outside training ground 44 awaiting the arrival of their proctors. A calm and confident mood permeated the atmosphere for the aspiring Chunins. Most were chatting idly with their teammates when a massive amount of blood lust and killing intent flooded the area putting the majority of them on edge. Naruto smirked from his location as he looked up to the main entrance into the forest where a puff of smoke signaled the arrival of one Mitirashi Anko sporting her trademark insane grin along with her fellow proctors.

"Alright fruitcakes! Welcome to the second section of the Chunin exams, the survival exam. For the next five days your task is to navigate this forest until you reach the tower in the center. The catch is you can only progress from there if you possess a full squad and a pair of these scrolls," she said holding up a heaven and earth scroll. "Each team will be given either one of the scrolls, you won't know which team has what. You have five days as I said before, if you show up without both scrolls, less than a full squad, after the deadline or you open the scrolls before reaching the tower you will be disqualified."

"What about food?" questioned a brown haired Ame genin.

"It's a forest you can hunt the animals and eat from the plant-life. Also, before we begin you all must sign waivers in order to participate in this exam. After your team submits all their waivers, you will get your scroll." Anko stated.

"Waivers for what?" asked a blue haired Sound kunoichi.

"For when you _die of course,_" a wide maniacal grin spread across her face "Little Genin like yourselves have been known not to survive this next part. We have make sure we're not liable. So many ways for you little shitstains to meet your demise..." she proceeded to list the various ways in which Genin were killed during the exam over the years. Several of the Genin smirked at the creativity of their predecessors, while others trembled with fear. After Anko finished entertaining herself with scarring them for life, the other proctors started distributing the waivers.

"So what's our plan?" Sakura asked her teammates while they waited for the waivers.

"I have a friend from another squad we are going to meet up with on the inside. We'll explain the rest of the plan from there." replied Naruto.

"Who is it?" Sakura asked him.

Sasuke answered for him, "It's that redhead from Suna isn't it. Gaara was it? I saw you guys the other day."

"Yeah, we saw you as well. Along with those weak Sound ninjas that were trying to spy on us." Naruto rolled his head to the left getting Sasuke to notice the Sound genin eavesdropping on their conversation.

"Hn. Those guys were so weak I figured they weren't worth the time." added Sasuke. The sound ninja clenched his fists in anger.

"What do you expect? An upstart village like that must only have weaklings." The ninja finally directed his attention away from them as the waivers arrived for them to sign. Team 7 quickly signed the waivers before proceeding to the small tent set up outside the main gate. Here they received their scroll before proceeding to gate 37. A few minutes later they felt a chakra flare signaling the start of the exam. The gates opened and all squads entered the forest.

---

Currently within the tower at the center of the forest, the various Jonin-sensei, ANBU, and proctors gathered in the observation room. One would think that these high ranking ninjas assembled to observe their pupils, to witness the skills of the latest crop of standout ninja, or perhaps to find their next batch of recruits for their respective divisions. However, the growing pile of money on the main table tells a different story.

"1000 on Team Kakashi!"

"1000 on Team Gai!"

"1500 on Team Kakashi!"

"1200 on Team Baki!"

"1250 on Team Gai!"

"1100 on Team Kakashi!"

"Asuma how un-youthful!" yelled Gai in shock.

"What? I'm loyal to my squad, but I'm not dumb." Asuma replied while taking a puff of his cigarette.

"Hey, you guys should check this out," suggested a brown haired ANBU. All the rooms attention was directed to the center monitor where Team Kakashi approached Team Baki in the eastern section of the forest.

"Alright looks like a heavyweight is bout to go down...What the hell, are they teaming up?" yell a stunned jonin.

"This is so not fair!" shouted an ANBU.

"I hope they don't thin the heard too much!" gloated a snickering Asuma.

"You have to change the odds now!" demanded a Suna jonin.

"No way! Teaming up is a legitimate strategy. Don't try and pussy out just because the squads with the two highest ranked applicants decided to join forces." declared Ibiki.

---

Team Baki stood patiently in the clearing at Gaara's orders. Right as the exam started Gaara commanded his siblings to follow him and they did so with no complaint. After moving quickly through the forest for several minutes Gaara abruptly halted their progress at the edge of a clearing and ordered them to wait. After a few minutes of silence Kankuro started to get edgy, he wanted to know what they were waiting for, but he also didn't want to piss off Gaara. He opted to pester his sister instead.

"Hey, what are we waiting for?" he whispered to her. Her eyebrow twitched in annoyance at his inability to stay silent.

"Does it look like I'm giving the orders here? He's probably tracking someone, use your brain idiot." Temari retorted.

"That's good! Maybe this will be over quick." he responded ignoring her insult. The noise of someone entering the clearing diverted their attention.

"Took you long enough." stated Gaara as Team Seven arrived at the meeting place. Naruto walked out front to face Gaara with Sasuke and Sakura lagging behind him.

"Hey, I'm not flying solo this time. So, how do you want to play this?" Naruto asked Gaara.

"Air and Ground assault. The dead weight heads to the tower and waits for us," answered Gaara.

"Alright who's ground?" questioned Naruto scratching his chin.

"I am." declared Gaara leaving no room for argument.

"You're no fun, ground is the fun part!" groaned Naruto in frustration.

"Your version of ground would destroy the scrolls we need along with half the forest." deadpanned the redhead.

"Touche." replied the blond.

"Hey since when does Gaara act like a normal person? And why are we teaming up with a leaf squad? Isn't that..." whispered Kankuro only to be cut off by a smack to back of the head courtesy of Temari.

Temari shook her head at his stupidity, "Shut up! Now is not the time for that you! Our villages are still allies, stop acting suspicious!" Naruto interrupted their small squabble.

"Alright listen up, here is the plan. You four are going to head straight for the tower. We'll send a pair of clones with you to guide you away from other teams. Since we need full squads to pass the next part, there is no need to take any unnecessary risks." commanded Naruto.

This ticked off Kankurou, "Wait a minute, are you saying we aren't good enough to help?"

Temari snorted at the ignorance of her brother, "No, you don't seem to get the point. This is a _survival_ exam. The point is not to fight people, but complete the task with no casualties. If less people are engaging in combat, then their is a greater chance of success."

Sasuke the entered the conversation, "I agree with her, but my question is how are you two going to do that?"

Gaara provided the explanation, "It's quite simple, we have one advantage no one else possesses. This forest provides excellent cover for anyone striking from above."

With this hint the rest of both teams caught on to the plan. Naruto used the multiform technique to form a double, while sand sifted out of Gaara's gourd forming a Suna Bunshin. After a brief moment of pause, the entire group vanished from the clearing.

---_Several Hours later---_

A squad of Ame Genin sped through the eastern portion of the forest of death on foot. After tracking a pair of enemy teams, the Ame team ended up going is circles as the trails simply vanished. The frustration reached is peak with them on the trails of the two groups for hours and nothing to show for it. They stopped under the cover of a group of aged trees for a short rest.

The leader of the squad, a dark haired male, growled in frustration as he slammed his fist into a tree trunk, "Man, I don't get it! We had the trails and then they were just gone! Both of them! Nothing left but those bizarre craters."

"We still have no idea what could have caused those things." added his silver haired male teammate as he cleaned his sunglasses.

"I do! Everyone get down!" yelled the brown haired female of the squad. The trio all dived out of the area into nearby bushes taking cover. As soon as they hit the dirt an explosion obliterated the location where they just stood.

The leader let out a sigh of relief, "Nice catch Kala! What was that, a high grade explosive tag?"

"No! It was one of those!" She exclaimed pointing up into the sky above them. Three glowing yellow balls of light headed straight towards them at high speeds.

The silver haired Genin started freaking out, "What the fuck is that! It just appeared in the sky out of nowhere!"

"I don't know! It must be what snuffed out those other teams we were tracking before! We've gotta move it!" the leader commanded. The team raced from their location at top speed as one of the balls hit their previous location. The second one missed completely as they all dodged to the left. However, the third hit closer to its mark detonated right behind the squad and sending them all flying. The leader slammed into the base of a nearby tree while the other two members of the squad tumbled into the nearby brush.

"Fuck!" screamed the leader as he pulled a small spike of wood out of his left arm while staggering to his feet. He ignored the pain of his dislocated shoulder that took the brunt of the crash as he surveyed the rest of his squad. His male teammate appeared to be nursing a injured leg as he limped towards him, while the kunoichi of the squad seemed suffering from only a gash on her left forearm. He took command of the situation.

"We need to find some cover to hide from those attacks, and have Toshiro patch us up." he said looking towards the silver haired boy.

"Kala has all the luck, my leg is busted and your arm is useless." grunted Toshiro in reply.

Kala ignored him as she surveyed the area and pointed off to their left, "There's small cave up head behind that damaged group of trees. If we can make it there, it should provide cover from whatever the hell is attacking us from above. And give you two a chance to heal up."

The leader nodded in approval, "Sounds goods we should be able to..." Toshiro cut him off.

"No time! We've got trouble!" The trio looked up behind them to see five more of those attack balls hovering high in the sky.

"Dammit! Move it guys!" With the adrenalin pumping through their veins the group made it across to the cave and dove inside just as explosions rang out. They looked back through the mouth of the cave to see the chaos occurring outside them.

"We're safe for now." uttered Kala.

"Those things were insanely powerful, and they seemed to be tracking us too. We still have to find away to escape them once we get out of here."

"It doesn't matter now. We need to hurry up and get ourselves patched up as best we can." ordered the leader.

Toshiro leaned back against the left side of the cave. Now that the adrenaline wore off intense pain was shooting through his leg. He reached for his pack only for it topple over in front of him, emptying his supplies onto the floor below."Dammit this whole floor is covered in sand," he murmured trying to dust the the sand from his medical kit.

"Yeah that's odd, this is fire country," the leader scratched his head and found sand in his hair. "What the hell?" He looked up to see a massive amount of sand particles dropping form the sealing. _'Something is not right here...'_ his thoughts were cut off as he looked down to see the sand on the floor had reached his thigh.

"Oh Shi..." his words were cut off as the sand enveloped the entire cave. At the entrance to the cave Naruto and Gaara stood as a tendril of sand shot forward from the wall of sand now filling the cave's entrance. It produced and earth scroll which Naruto pocketed.

"This is almost too easy. How many is that now four?" questioned the redhead.

"Five. We should head back now..." replied the blond before suddenly pausing and looking towards the tower in the center of the forest, his face filled with shock and confusion. "Dammit! The bastard is here! He's been here the whole time!"

"My clone just dispelled as well. We need to hurry." stated Gaara.

"Why now? It doesn't make any sense..." Naruto quickly dropped these thoughts focusing on the task at hand, "Never mind that I'll provide the distraction you get everybody out of there."

---

"This can't be happening..." uttered Sasuke in disbelief. He stood paralyzed on a tree branch in the middle of the forrest. Sasuke couldn't comprehend how this strange woman could freeze him in his tracks with mere killing intent alone. He hadn't experienced fear like this since the night of the massacre, and there appeared to be no escape. His mind screamed for his body to move, but it was completely locked up. Sakura was in worse shape than Sasuke and some powerful wind attack knocked Naruto's clone off into the distance when it jumped in front of her to take the blow. A giant snake sent Gaara's clone careening through the forest before chasing of Temari and Kankuro. _'They got the easy fight...'_ Sasuke thought to himself. Everything appeared to be fine as the two squads progressed to the tower, when the Gaara and Naruto clones suddenly halted in the middle of a clearing. Before anyone could question why they stopped the two suddenly started picking a fight with each other over territory. Just as it seemed they were about to start fighting the strange woman made herself known declaring she would like to witness such an intriguing match between two containers. The clones then decided to unleash their frustrations on the woman and all hell broke loose.

"Who are you! What do you want with us!" Sasuke yelled at the woman.

"Kukukuku.." the woman chuckled, "Well, I am a predator and you're my prey..and I so do love playing with my prey..kukukuku!"

Just as she said this Kankuro and Temari reappeared right next to Sasuke and Sakura. The snake they were battling hissed with excitement as it appeared next to the women. The duo from Suna looked like they had been roughed up a bit, but nothing serious.

"You guys alright?" asked Sakura

"Yeah, but I really wish those two would hurry up on their way here." replied Temari. With someone like this on the loose she knew it wasn't a matter of if her brother would show up, but when.

"Come now! Let's have some fun!" The woman declared before summoning another large snake and sending it at the four Genin and jumping on top of the other.

_'Shit, how are we supposed to stop this thing!'_ thought Sasuke as he braced himself for the onslaught. However, the snake stopped in its tracks kicking up a bunch of debris as something appeared in its path. The dust cleared to reveal Naruto standing on a branch and stopping the snake in its tracks with only one hand outstretched in front of him. Suddenly he kicked the snake in the face sending it backwards before it vanished in a puff of smoke. Naruto looked up to face the strange women with a stiff glare.

"What are you doing here Orochimaru?" he declared stunning the others.

_'Impossible! How could she possibly be...'_ they thought.

_'Incredible..such power! That old crackpot trained him well. I must find away to get him too!'_ thought Orochimaru.

"So you recognized me Naruto-kun and such power you displayed just a moment ago...so intriguing!" The gender challenged abomination licked its lips in a disturbing manner as it leered at Sasuke and Naruto. It reached its hand up and slowly peeled off its skin to reveal the true face of Orochimaru.

"Guys keep your guard up! Orochimaru is known for capturing and experimenting on ninjas, especially those with bloodlines or extraordinary abilities. It's the main reason he was forced to flee Konoha as a missing nin. Most likely he's here for one of us Sasuke, to turn us into lab rats to discover the secrets of our abilities for himself."

Sakura paled in fear while Sasuke clenched his fists in anger.

"So those three old fools have informed you well about me. Well boy, let's see what you can do!"

Naruto suddenly appeared in front of the treacherous Sannin and landed two quick punches followed by a roundhouse kick the sent Orochimaru flying through the trees. Naruto moved to follow only to see the body dissolve into mud. Naruto suddenly jumped to the side to avoid being cleaved in two by a blade protruding from the sannin's mouth. He turned and unleashed a furious rapid fire of Ki blasts at the snake sannin.

"HA! HA! HA! HA!" he chanted while pouring it on relentlessly. Sakura stared at the scene in awe of her teammate while Sasuke was a bit more skeptical. No matter how strong Naruto was for his age, he still couldn't possibly beat Orochimaru. He knew Naruto knew this as well, which only meant one thing: this was a diversion.

Naruto panted as he stopped firing the blasts and jumped high into the trees to give himself some distance. He watched closely as the smoke cleared from the area revealing a completely unharmed Orochimaru.

"It's a shame. I expected more from the turtle hermits apprentice. I guess the old fool has slipped in his teachings." mocked Orochimaru.

"Now!" yelled Naruto as suddenly the other four Genin vanished from view.

"What have you done!" demanded Orochimaru, irritated at the disappearance of his original target.

"I knew that with a guy like you I can't afford to hold back and they would have only gotten in my way. Behold, I will show you the greatest technique of Kame-Sennin martial arts!" declared Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto-kun show me your true power!" roared the Snake Sannin in anticipation.

Naruto jumped high into the air with his back facing the sun and brought his hands close to his face. Orochimaru stared up at him with barely contained glee.

"Get ready this going to be a big one!" he yelled as his power sky rocketed. His muscles bulged and the ground started shaking under the energy he poured out, "Kame Sennin Final Attack...SOLAR FLARE!" The ensuing bright flash of light blinded the rogue sannin and forced him to cover his eyes in pain.

"AAAAHHHHHHH MY EYES! I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS! HOW DARE YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF ME!" The diversion put Orochimaru out of commission for several minutes, and when his vision finally returned Naruto was nowhere in sight. The snake summoner scanned around the clearing looking to pick up his trail.

"Dammit, the brat failed to leave anything or me to follow. I didn't get to mark either of them to enable capturing at the least. No matter, I can still do it at a later time." The Sannin then vanished from clearing. A few minutes later Team 7 and the Suna siblings rose from underground courtesy of Gaara's sand.

"I can't believe that actually worked. I thought he would figure out where we were hiding for sure." excalimed Sakura.

"He would have expected us to run, this was a much better plan." remarked Gaara.

"What do we do now?" questioned Temari.

"We've got the scrolls already, and the tower is close by. Let's finish the exam." replied Naruto.

---

A squad of ANBU arrived at the location departed by the two squads minutes later.

"This is the location, but he's already gone along with whoever was fighting him." declared the leader in the monkey mask as he surveyed the area.

"He must have sensed us coming and fled." muttered the male wearing an ox mask as he investigated some of the damage.

"He wouldn't run from us, whatever his objective was he already completed or he fled because it was unobtainable." replied the leader.

"What do we do now? Cancel the exams?" questioned the female donning the rabbit mask.

"I doubt it, Lord Hokage wants to capture him at some point. We report back to him and await more orders." responded the leader.

Their fourth teammate who had been silent up to this point proposed a very good question,"That still leaves one thing, what is he really after?"

--

"That brat! What a nuisance! Now I can't initiate that phase of my plan here." ranted Orochimaru as he sped through the trees. He suddenly halted at the base of a large tree as Kabuto and his squad appeared before him kneeling.

"Lord Orochimaru what are your orders?" the trio questioned their leader.

"Roshi's brat prevented me from completing my first objective, so I'm revoking the first set of orders. We'll have to go with one of my contingency plans a month from now. Spread the word."

"Yes, sir!" they responded. Before they departed he held back Kabuto for a brief moment.

"Kabuto, why was your information on the Konoha container so lacking? He is much further along in his training than your information suggested. He is certainly no match for me, but his level is on par with yours."

"There is no real documented information on him. All of his files are merely watered down reports passed down by the Hokage. I doubt any real documentation on his abilities exists."

The snake sannin's response surprised Kabuto when instead of the expected anger Orochimaru started laughing with excitement, "KuKuku! So, it's seems Sensei has done well to hide his trump card. Well played old man...well played."

* * *

_**The preliminary matches are next!**_


	6. Chunin Exams Round III Preliminaries

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything

* * *

**Chunin Exams Round III Part I: Preliminaries**

After their arrival in the tower the two teams activated their scrolls to complete the exam. The majority of them went their separate ways enjoying several days of rest after their arrival while waiting for the second leg of the exam to finish. They mostly kept to themselves with their time off, except for Naruto and Gaara who had to relay their encounter with Orochimaru to the Hokage and various other persons the village leader wanted kept in the loop. By the time the exam finally concluded seven teams remained in the hunt for promotion. Both other rookie teams passed, along with Team Gai, Kabuto's team, and a Sound team joining Team Kakashi and Team Baki. The various proctors and senseis rejoined the examinees inside the tower in a large vacant room. With everyone gathered the Hokage launched into a long speech about the purpose of the chunin exams as a substitute for war. Naruto tuned out the boring speech in favor of scanning the room, as his eyes darted around the room, he found a familiar large white spiky haired old man.

_'Looks like Ero-sensei heard about the encounter with snake face, otherwise I would have had to track him down for the next leg of my training.' _thought the blond._  
_

While Master Roshi taught him the great legacy of Kame-sennin martial arts, it was his godfather who taught him how to be a ninja. Growing up away from the village allowed the for Jiraiya to take a huge part in his Godson's life without it becoming completely obvious who Naruto really was. As far as the majority of the elemental countries were concerned Naruto was merely Master Roshi's apprentice, not the son of Namikaze Minato. Jiraiya caught Naruto's eye and gave the teen a grin and wink before returning to leering at a female Anbu guarding the Hokage. Naruto chuckled softly and shook his head as one of the proctors interrupted the Hokage's speech gaining everyone's attention.

"Excuse me sir, (cough) but with so many teams completing the second exam we will need to have preliminary matches to determine who moves on to participate(cough) in the third exam. If anyone feels they are not up to it, you can remove yourself(cough) from consideration now."

After no one decided to withdraw, he continued on. "Very well, my Name is Gekko Hayate(cough), I will be your proctor for these preliminary matches. Everyone please move to the observation area except for the fighters who appear on the screen," he pointed towards the large screen on the far wall. They all watched the screen as it cycled through various names for several seconds before finally settling on two.

**_Sabaku no Gaara & Abumi Zaku  
_**

"So what have you heard of the youngest son of the Kazekage?" asked Saruboti, as people started filing upstairs to make room for the first match.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow at his sensei, but after receiving a subtle nod he decided to play along, "He's supposedly a forced to be reckoned with. Not every day you get to see a Genin, who can take A-rank missions and return completely unscathed."

As Sarutobi and Jiriaya discussed various topics of what they knew to be either outdated or just flat out bullshit information, an eavesdropping Orochimaru had a difficult time holding back the smug grin forming at his lips. The snake sannin's arrogance prevented him from even considering the fact that the two were simply parroting back the information his own spy had planted into Jiriaya's spy network to merely maintain appearances.

_'This is the reason why Jiriaya-sama is more dangerous than Orochimaru.'_ thought Kakashi as he tried to keep up with the byplay while pretending to read his book. _'With Orochimaru, you must always look beneath the underneath. However, with Jiriaya-sama you must look beneath underneath that is already beneath the underneath. There's got to be a better way to say that...'_

Per usual, whenever Kakashi's mind wandered onto the road of life, Gai chose to strike up a conversation, "...isn't that right my eternal rival?"

_'I could throw him a bone this time. Nah...'_ thought Kakashi. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Always with the hip attitude! Why must you torment me so, my eternal rival?" exclaimed Gai.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Down on the floor of the pseudo arena, he brown haired sound ninja stood calmly with his arms dangling at his sides. He eyes were brimming with confidence. As he stared down his opponent, he quickly became irritated by the redhead's body language. Gaara stood with a bored look, as if he there to count the grains of sand in his gourd.

Zaku attempted to rile him up, "Gaara of the Desert, huh? Looks like your dad must have fabricated that reputation for you. You're nothing more than a mascara wearing loser."

Temari, Kankuro, and Baki all paled, assuming the kid just sign his own death warrant and all thinking, _'Gaara, please don't cause an incident!'_

"Mother has no need for the blood those who wet themselves." replied Gaara nonchalantly.

"Holy crap!" blurted Kiba as Akamaru barked from within his jacket. "This guy pissed himself before the fight even started!"

Immediately everyone's eyes fell to the growing wet spot on Zaku's crotch. They all had a hard time suppressing their snickers of amusement. Zaku's was also rewarded with three spikes of killing intent, courtesy of his fellow sound ninjas.

_'Ha! That was good! I never even saw him plant the fake pee!'_ thought Naruto.

_'You won't be so cocky once I've blown you away. You will pay for this humiliation!' _thought a completely clueless Zaku.

"Begin!" Hayate brought his arm down signaling the start of the match before jumping back out of harms way.

Zaku crouched into an aggressive stance, his arms positioned in front of him as he awaited for Gaara to make his move. The redhead didn't move, remaining in his disinterested posture. Angered by the perceived lack of respect Zaku charged in to make his first assault.

"Since you don't seem that interested in fighting, I'll make this quick for ya!" yelled Zaku as sped forward leaping into the air. The cocky sound genin swung his arms forward pointing his palms towards Gaara and unleashed his technique.

**"Zankuha!"** As the attack moved in on him, sand flowed from Gaara's gourd forming a wall to block the incoming jutsu.

"That's not going to cut it!" yelled Zaku as his blast tore through the shield with no problem. However, he was stunned to find that behind the shield his opponent was no where to be found.

"Looking for me?" Gaara's voice ominously rang out from right behind him. Zaku spun to nail the red head with another Zankuha, only to be stopped cold as Gaara struck with his left arm. The arm was covered with enough sand to make it appear twice it's normal size.

**"Sabaku no Pistol!"** Gaara swung his sand covered arm forward the reach of his punch extending as if his arm was made of an infinite amount of sand. The powerful hit connected with Zaku's face. It carried and slammed the sound nin into the opposing wall knocking him out cold.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Bastard get's hooked on One Piece and you'd think take after Crocodile, but no! He just had to copy after Luffy." muttered Naruto.

"In all fairness Luffy is much cooler than Crocodile." chimed in Kakashi who leaned against the wall to his left.

"Yes, but since I can actually replicated a Gatling gun, bazooka, and pistol with my energy blasts, I am much better suited for the role." stated Naruto.

"You don't have to be so jealous, you're just as big of an idiot!" interjected Jiraiya.

"Shut it Ero-sensei, everyone knows about your failed venture as an Ero-cook. Your food and your ugly mug scared all the girls away, fired in under an hour." replied Naruto.

"No respect! No respect, I tell you! No respect!" grumbled Jiraiya.

X-X-X-X-X-X

"Winner, Sabaku no Gaara." declared Hayate as the medics removed Zaku from the area. Gaara vanished from the floor in a swirl of sand as the screen started to cycle through names for the next set of opponents.

_**Rock Lee & Akimichi Chouji**_

"YOSH!" cried out the duo of green beasts with multicolored flames lighting up their eyes. Lee turned to his role model with an insane grin stretched across his face.

"Gai-sensei! Now is my chance to prove the virtues of my flames of youth!" exclaimed the mini-me version of the duo.

Gai replied withe equal intensity and enthusiasm, "That is correct my most youthful pupil. Today perhaps you can even stoke the fire of youth in all your competitors for even more exciting matches later on!"

"Yes, and If I can't do that then I will do 500 laps around the village." declared Lee.

"And if you can't finish that then I will do 600 laps around the village on my hands!" proclaimed Gai.

"And if you can't do that I will do 1000 kicks and punches..." started Lee again only to be cut off by an annoyed Naruto.

"And if you don't get your ass down there and start fighting, I'm going to the blast both of you into the next dimension!" roared the blond with nods of approval from everyone else in the room.

"Lee it looks like you've already succeeded in raising the flames of youth; my eternal rivals pupil is also ready to fight! Go Lee! Show them the power of Youth!" proclaimed Gai.

"YOUTH!" cried out Lee as he speed down to the fighting area, somehow leaving mystical rainbow colored flame in his wake. TenTen stared from the space her teammate just occupied to Naruto in bewilderment.

"Neji...I think that guy just prevented the..." Neji quickly clamped a hand down over her mouth.

"Do not temp fate Tenten." advised Neji shaking his head. The bun haired girl knocked his hand away before snorting at the idiocy of her entire team. On the other side of the room, after a promise of free barbecue from his sensei the rotund Akimichi made his way to the battle area. The ensuing fight was not much to write home about. Lee's superior speed enabled him to avoid Chouji's human bullet tank technique for several minutes until the large boy started to tire. As soon as he released the jutsu an efficiently executed Leaf Gale from Lee rendered Chouji unconscious and Lee the winner.

Naruto let out a huge sigh, "Well, that sucked. Two fights and two easy wins. These preliminaries are even worse than the preliminaries of the last tournament in iron country."

Jiraiya snorted before responding, "No, they aren't that bad. Remember all the amateurs in block 10 that let the fat smelly guy into the finals?"

A shiver ran down Naruto's spine, "That is one man I don't ever want to fight."

Naruto and Jiraiya proceeded to regale Kakashi with stories of the various matches they'd seen over the years in the Martial Arts tournaments Naruto competed in when he was younger. Most of the observers within hearing distance ended paying more attention to them than they did the several fights occurring down below simultaneously. By the time their conversation had wrapped up, several fights had run their course including Temari defeating Hinata, Shino defeating Ino, and Shikamaru eliminating Kin.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"The finals of these exams better be good, the preliminaries so far have been lacking." complained Anko.

Kurenai rolled her eyes, "You haven't even been paying attention."

"The only reason you were paying attention is because your little students were fighting in two of the matches." countered Anko.

"Well, Shino did make it to the finals." replied Kurenai.

Anko snorted, "And the quiet girl got pwned by that Sand Chick."

"Hey, she did better than Asuma's student." defended Kurenai.

"That's not saying much. The girl nearly had a panic attack at the sight bug-boy's little helpers. And, come on! She's Asuma's student." retorted Anko.

"Don't drag me into this." grumbled Asuma as he took a puff of his cigarette. "And it's not like any of our students have a legit chance of winning the whole thing. In the end this is all going to come down to that red-headed Suna kid and Jiraiya-sama's brat. I just hoping my students show enough to get promoted or gain something from the experience."

Sasuke emerged victorious in his battle and as if right on cue with Asuma's words these two names appeared on the screen:

_**Namikaze Naruto vs**__** Yoroi Akado**_

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"About down time." yawned Naruto as he stood up._**  
**_

"Well then do put on a good show." advised Jiraiya.

"Not a big enough audience." remarked Naruto as he strolled down the steps to the battle floor.

Both opponents surveyed one another with blank stares trying to glean some information for the fight, as they awaited Hayate's signal.

"Seventh Match: Namikaze Naruto & Akado Yoroi, Begin!" announced Hayate.

Naruto dropped into the basic kame-sennin stance awaiting his opponent's first move. Yoroi didn't leave him waiting long, as the elder nin charged ahead engaging the blond in hand to hand combat. Naruto used his superior speed to his advantage, not allowing Yoroi to even come close to landing a blow. Yoroi went through several different combination of punches and kicks unable to even land a scathing attack.

"Come on, you bastard fight me!" yelled Yoroi as he missed another punch.

Naruto said nothing, content to let his opponents frustration build.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"Damn he's fast." muttered Shikamaru.

"Well, no duh! This guy can't even touch him." retorted Ino.

"That's not what he meant Ino." said Asuma. "Just watch."

"When he really moves, I doubt we'll be still able to see." stated Shikamaru.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Yoroi dropped back gaining some separation from Naruto, flashing rapidly through a set of hand signs that caused dark blue chakra to spring to life around his hands.

"Let's see how you like when I take things up a notch!" declared Yoroi.

"So, this is going to be that kind of fight, huh?" replied Naruto. In response the blond extended out his right hand and pointed a finger at Yoroi.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

"It's over." declared Jiraiya.

Kakashi gave him a curious look, "Hm?"

Jiraiya directed his attention back to the fight, "I'm guessing he hasn't shown you this move yet. Watch closely, or you might miss it."

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

One second Yoroi was standing there, the next there was an explosion where he was standing. When the smoke cleared from the phantom blast, the smoking and badly burned body of Yoroi laid on the floor unconscious.

"Huh, put a little too much into that one." muttered Naruto.

Naruto raised his finger up towards the direction where some of the spectators were, causing several genin to duck in fear.

"Bang!" exclaimed Naruto as he cocked his finger before blowing on it.

After checking to make sure Yoroi was unconscious, Hayate signaled Naruto the winner, "Winner: Namikaze Naruto!"

As Naruto made his way back upstairs, Kiba summed up the thoughts of most of the people in the room, " What the hell just happened!"

X-X-X-X-X-X

After the final battle everyone gathered back down at the lower level in front of the Hokage.

"Congratulations to all of you who have won the right to compete in the final event of this third task. As I said before, one month from now you will compete in tournament style matches in front of everyone. Each chunin applicant will be representing the might of their respective villages. I ask that each of you hold nothing back in these matches. The month-long break should provide ample time for all the necessary preparations." spoke Sarutobi.

"What preparations?" asked Kiba.

"A suitable arena needs to made ready for the matches, along with allowing time for the various Daiymos and other high ranking officials and shinobi to arrive in the village. Of course this is also time for the combatants to further sharpen their skills." answered the Hokage.

Jiraiya elaborated on his last words even further, "Up until now, in these exams you've been tested in mostly unknown situations. Those of you have progressed this far have been able to adapt to the different trials and succeed. This is a valuable characteristic that all villages want their chunin to possess. However, going forward you have now gained information on the remaining opponents you could be expected to face in this battle. Given time to prepare, we want to see what you're capable of at your best. For those of you who are a banged up a bit, that means resting and rehabbing yourself back to one hundred percent. Those of you who are still in good shape can take this time improve your skills and possibly add a few things to your arsenal."

After he finished, Anko let out a whistle to gather their attention to her, "Listen up leftover maggots! We're going to determine the seedings for the final tournament by having you each draw a number from this box. Now hold tight, I'll come around to you."

As Anko made her way around to the genin, each pulled out a piece of paper and called their number aloud. When Naruto pulled his out, he almost ending up calling out an address by mistake before flipping it over to find his number. He gave Anko a puzzled look, to which she responded with a wink and a whisper of, "Look me up!" before she moved onto the next genin.

_'How did she...'_ thought Naruto momentarily, before deciding it was a mystery better left unsolved.

"Alright, now lets reveal the tournament bracket." announced Sarutobi, once they all finished.

_**Match 1: Sabaku no Temari vs. Aburame Shino**_

_**Match 2: Sasuke Uchiha vs. Dosu Kinuta**_

_**Match 3: Kiba Inuzuka vs. Sabaku no Kankuro**_

_**Match 4: Rock Lee vs. Namikaze Naruto**_

_**Match 5: Neji Hyuuga vs. Sabaku no Gaara**_

_**Match 6: Shikamaru Nara vs. Bye**_

"Troublesome... Since I have a bye, that means I have to face a tougher opponent in my first match." mumbled Shikamaru.

Naruto overheard the pineapple headed genin standing next to him, "Yeah, but you also get to scout the fight before hand, plus the person could get tired from the first fight. For a guy like you, that's probably worth a lot."

"Now that you have the match-ups, you're free to begin your preparations as you and your senseis see fit. Any questions before I release you all?" asked the Hokage.

Shino raised his hand.

"Yes." acknowledged the Hokage.

"Since this is a tournament, there will only be one winner. Does that mean after all of this, only one person gets promoted?" asked Shino.

"No, despite the tournament style setting, winning is not the only way to get promoted. The villages wouldn't have so many chunin if only one was promoted at every exam. In fact winning does not even guarantee promotion." spoke the Hokage, a smirk forming on his face. "Several judges from the various participating villages have been appointed. This includes myself, the Kazekage, officials of the Daiymos, other high ranking shinobi officials, and lords and minor lords of various countries who make mission requests. During the tournament you will be evaluated by these judges. If you are deemed by the judges to have to necessary qualities to be a chunin, you will be promoted win, lose, or draw."

"That means that everyone can become chunin." asserted Kiba.

"That also means the no one may become chunin as well." countered the Hokage. "The advantage to winning in the tournament, is that it gives you more chances to impress the judges. Any other questions before I dismiss you?"

"You're saying that as of right now, we get _nothing _for winning." blurted Naruto.

"Yes, I've already explained this." replied the Hokage, not sure where the blond was going with this.

"Then I say it's time for a change of tradition. I demand a commemorative championship belt be made in honor of my upcoming victory. If everyone can get promoted, I'll need something to make me stand out more after I wipe the floor with all these losers." declared Naruto.

"I can't wait to see your face as I claim that belt Namikaze." proclaimed Gaara. "It would be a fitting decoration for my gourd."

"If anyone's going to get that belt it's going to me!" declared Kiba.

When Akamaru barked at him, he added, "And Akamaru!"

Sasuke snorted, "As if any of you pathetic losers could lay claim to being a champion. Only an Uchiha-"

Neji cut him off, "Would be foolish enough to believe that anyone other than a Hyuuga would take home the honor of being the champion."

As the everyone immersed themselves in squabbles about who was going to win the tournament, Naruto had already moved on from the chaos he just instigated to his next big idea.

"I'm telling you ero-sennin, we need to do this thing big! Advertising, a live radio broadcast, play-by-play announcer, hell I bet Master Roshi would do color commentary. We could make this real big!" proclaimed Naruto.

"Brat! This isn't some pageantry. It's about pride, honor, respect, and showing whose village is top dog." ranted Jiraiya.

Naruto was not swayed, "Icha Icha could be the main sponsor, just think of all the publicity you can get! Your sales will go through the roof!"

"Now you're talking gaki!" exclaimed Jiraiya.

The Hokage let out a sigh of frustration, _'One of these days I aught to trap both of them behind my desk and make them do paperwork...'_

* * *

Legacy of the Turtle Hermit is back! And ain't nothing wrong with that! As promised the winner of the poll is back into the main rotation of updates. Now let's see what sorts of crazy battles and shenanigans, Naruto will get involved in going forward.


End file.
